Til the Sky Turned Blue Book III
by Jennifoofighter
Summary: A continuation of the series.
1. Chapter 1

**TITLE: 'Til the Sky Turned Blue – Book III of VI  
****AUTHOR: Jennifoofighter  
****RATING: PG up to NC-17: Sexual situations, violence, strong language  
****KEYWORDS: MS, JS, M/OC, D/OC, VM, and friendship all around.  
****SPOILERS/TIMELINE: Post 'End Game'  
****DISCLAIMER: Hank and Co. own everything**_** Without a Trace.**_** No copyright infringement is intended, ...yada, yada, yada, I get nothing but the satisfaction of having them do what I want if only for a little while.  
****NOTE: Thank you Pru for the 'Book' idea. It makes it much easier to organize.  
****AUTHORS NOTE: I am asking you to take a journey with me. For some it might be a bumpy ride but I promise that you will be very happy once we arrive at the final destination.**

~*~*~*~

_I tell myself a little lie  
__That my heart beats by my own decision  
__That I needn't see your face to start my day  
__I was raised to rely on my own plan  
__I know how to stand  
__Through an earthquake  
__Oh so my pride it demands  
__That I never toss it away _

_~ 'Indispensable' by Jen Chapin_

~*~*~*~

JFK airport is always a constant buzz of activity: tourists in 'I heart NY' t-shirts anxious to return home and tell their friends and family about their trip to the 'big apple'; travel-weary men and women walking determinedly with their briefcases and laptops in town for business; families arriving from other countries for long-awaited reunions, speaking in foreign tongues. In other words, it is a place where anything is possible.

Martin strode through the airport, maneuvering through the throngs of people, excited to be back home in New York. While he enjoyed being able to see so much of his family back in Washington, he was just sick about the reason; being back in New York made him feel more like himself, more in control. He gripped the handle on his laptop case and pulled his suitcase closer to him so as to avoid bumping people as he rushed along.

As he passed through the security check-point he spotted a young woman in tiny shorts and tank top with her arms and legs clasped around a soldier in uniform. They were in heavy make-out mode and seemingly oblivious to the world around them. His eyes then glimpsed a young father who appeared to be returning home from a business trip. He was welcomed by his wife and two toddlers who were excited to greet him with wet kisses and a sign that read, 'Welcome Home Daddy!'

Martin couldn't help but envy these men. The only thing awaiting him here was a cab ride into Manhattan. He was so engrossed in thoughts of what those men had that he didn't he almost missed the familiar blonde figure standing in the middle of the crowd smiling directly at him. It took him a few seconds to register who it was but when he did, he grinned from ear to ear.

Smiling he approached her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood." Sam smiled coyly, looking him over and glancing at his luggage. "So, you need a ride stranger?"

"I'd love one." He smiled back, soaking in the sight of her.

"Great." She grabbed his laptop bag before he had a chance to protest. And then, quite unexpectedly, she moved in for a hug before kissing him squarely on the mouth. She pulled back and whispered, "Welcome home."

Martin smiled back, surprised at her very public display of affection but welcoming it all the same. "It's good to be home."

As they turned to walk to the exit, Sam reached over and grabbed his hand. Martin looked down to see their fingers intertwined and thought that if this was a sign of some of those changes Sam had mentioned then maybe things really were going to be different this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

XXXXXXX

Martin unlocked the door to his apartment and walked in. Sam watched as he put his suitcase down and looked around. He ran his fingers along the back of the sofa before walking to the blinds and pulling them open, gazing out at the city. He stood there for a moment and then he quickly turned around walking down the hall to his bedroom. Sam followed him from behind and watched as he stood at the foot of his bed and fell face forward. He breathed into the mattress and said, "I'm home."

Sam chuckled at the sight of him. "Happy to be back?"

Martin rolled over, closed his eyes and spread his arms out wide as he lay in the middle of the bed replying, "Oh yeah."

Sam leaned against the door frame and asked, "Are you hungry?"

Martin opened one eye and said. "I've been dreaming of a pizza from Mario's."

Sam pulled out her cell phone and said. "You got it." She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Hello, delivery for Martin Fitzgerald. Yeah, that's the correct address. I'd like to order a large pizza: sausage, pepperoni, black olives and green peppers." Sam turned to look over at Martin, "Anything else?" Without opening his eyes, Martin shook his head so she returned to her order. "Yeah, that's it. Thanks."

Sam hung up the phone and looked at Martin. He seemed so happy and relaxed. She bit her lip, wanting to lie down next to him but she knew that would be very dangerous. It had been three weeks since their dinner on the _Muireann_ and their kiss. And when Martin called her a week ago to let her know that he was headed back to New York they talked a little about how to handle a possible reconciliation. They both agreed that they would take it slow. They would do things properly: first they would date, dinner, movies, etc. and then move on to the next level. They decided that maybe they rushed that part and needed to learn a bit more about each other, lay a foundation.

But looking at his warm, lean body laying in the bed it was really hard to remember why that was supposed to be a good idea. She was flooded of memories of how good it felt to have Martin's weight above her….and under her…and maybe she should stop thinking about it.

So instead she stood up quickly saying, "I'm going to go check out what you have to drink in your 'fridge."

A few minutes later Martin joined Sam in the living room where she was sunk into the sofa drinking a beer.

"Hey," He said, "I see you found something. Are there any more?"

"Yup, along with a fully stocked fridge," She took another swig and added, "Your mom's handy work?"

"Yeah, she said she called Abigail and asked her to buy groceries." Martin chuckled as added, "You remember Abigail don't you?"

Sam threw him an evil glare as he walked to the kitchen. Abigail is Martin's maid that Sam met quite by accident when she decided to surprise him one night by showing up at his door wearing nothing but a raincoat and a smile only to be greeted by a 55-year old heavy set Irish woman. Needless to say, after that Sam always called Martin before coming over.

When he emerged from the kitchen with his own beer he sat down next to her but not quite touching. He put his socked feet up on the coffee table so Sam kicked off her shoes and did the same.

"What time are you meeting Jack tomorrow?" She asked, taking another drink.

"Ten a.m. If he gives me the green light then I can be back at work by tomorrow afternoon." He rested his beer on his thigh and said, "I can't wait. I've missed being out in the field."

Sam nodded her head in agreement. She remembered that when she was shot she hated being stuck at home watching T.V. "Well, I'm pretty confident Jack won't have any problems welcoming you back."

"Let's hope you're right." Martin replied, raising his beer and clinking it against hers.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Martin spoke up and asked, "So…..can this be considered our 'first date' cuz I'm pretty sure that picking someone up at the airport is usually the sign of at least a sixth or seventh date kind of relationship."

Sam turned to Martin to find him smirking. "No way, you still have to take me to a fancy restaurant where I can have an excuse to dress up. Jeans and pizza at your place does not a first date make. You're gonna have to woo me Martin Fitzgerald."

Martin laughed as Sam leaned into his face and said the word again for emphasis, "Woo."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

XXXXXXX

Martin stepped out of the elevator and felt a rush of adrenaline at being back on familiar ground. He loved the feeling of being in the F.B.I. building in New York and more importantly, the Missing Persons Unit. Now he really was home. This morning he had never been more exited to put on a suit and tie. He was even humming as he headed to Jack's office. He glanced around and couldn't help but feel nostalgic about his first day working Missing Persons. It was strange to think about how much his life had changed in the three years he worked here.

He approached Jack's office and peeked into the glass walled office. Jack was sitting at his desk talking on the phone. Martin gave a soft knock and Jack waved him in.

"Yeah, what's the address? Are you sending it over now?" Jack's voice was professional and based on the questions Martin surmised it was a new case. He tried to control his excitement that he might get a case on his first day back. "Okay, thanks."

Jack hung up the phone and turned to face Martin. "Welcome back. How do you feel?"

"I feel great. Good, strong." Martin replied, trying his best to sound confident and capable.

Jack eyed him carefully, scrutinizing him. After a beat Jack said, "I'm going to go ahead and put you in the field but I'd like for you to meet with Lisa as well."

"I've already been meeting with a Dr. Salinger." Martin answered.

"Good. I'd still like for you to have at least one session with Lisa so I can mark it on your file that you satisfied the requirements for the bureau."

Martin clenched his jaw and replied, "Okay."

"Don't take it personally; I had Sam see her after she was shot. I just want to make sure I don't have anyone out there in the field distracted, fearful or unsure. I need everyone to be 100 so if you have any doubts I'm asking you to tell me now."

Martin looked Jack in the eyes and replied, "Jack, I'm ready."

Jack sat there studying him for a few beats when at last he said, "Okay, go get to work. Someone from the team can fill you in for now," Jack nodded that Martin could leave as he picked up the telephone again and added, "I'll be out in a few minutes."

Martin gave him a grateful smile and walked out of the office and headed to the bullpen. Danny was at his desk working on a report, Sam was on the telephone taking notes, and Vivian was at the conference table going through a pile of paperwork. It was one of the best sights he'd seen in ages.

He stood there for a few moments before he cleared his throat and said, "Hi."

They all looked up and seemed genuinely surprised to see him. Danny jumped up first and walked hurriedly towards Martin. Martin held his hands up in front of him and with a smile said, "Hands off lover boy."

Danny laughed as the two men shook hands. Viv stayed at the conference table but smiled widely as Martin approached, like a dog with his tail between his legs. "Hey, Viv, how are you?"

"Hello Martin. Welcome back." She answered warmly. "Thank you again for the flowers."

"It literally was the least I could do." Martin replied.

"Yeah, well, it inspired Marcus to get on the ball as well." She nodded to a bouquet of red roses on her desk.

Martin chuckled and gave Viv a big smile.

"So, are you back?" Sam asked as she hung up her phone and walked to where he stood.

He nodded his head and replied, "Yeah, I have to meet with Lisa but Jack said I could start right away."

Viv smiled and said, "Well, that makes the entire team. Danny met with her after the shooting and he had me with her after my surgery. Missing Persons must be getting a group rate." Viv chuckled before getting a serious expression on her face and said. "So, since you're back, here's a stack of phone records. We are looking for…"

And just like that, Martin was back to work.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

XXXXXXX

Martin opened the door to his apartment carrying Chinese take-out. He tossed his keys on the table and plopped down on the sofa, completely exhausted. It was a hellish first week back. They had to conduct two investigations back to back. Both cases involved young women but resulted in two very different outcomes. In the first case the missing daughter had eloped to Puerto Rico with a boy the parents didn't approve of but it was still a pretty happy ending. The second case was much tougher; the missing person was a young co-ed at Columbia who was reported missing by her parents. It turned out she had checked into sleazy hotel and committed suicide. Since it was such a cheap hotel, house-keeping was happy to adhere to the 'Do Not Disturb' sign so it was Martin and Sam who tracked her down and discovered the body.

It was a tough week for any agent but for Martin's first week back it was brutal.

To top it off, tonight was supposed to be his and Sam's 'first date' but at the end of the day today they looked at one another and knew that it wasn't going to happen.

So, he was going to spend his first Friday night back in New York sitting on his sofa, eating takeout and watching _Sports Center._ All in all, not that different from how he usually spent his weekends since before he and Sam got together. When he was finished eating, he headed to the kitchen to throw the empty white cartons away. As he padded down the hall he wondered if maybe he should reconsider his career choice, maybe find a nice ordinary job where he could work nine-to-five and the odds of encountering a corpse was minimal.

He entered the kitchen and spotted the trash can in the corner. He aimed and tossed one of the empty cartons into the trash can. Score! Maybe he could look into a career with the NBA. He aimed the second and it hit the rim, bounced against the wall before landing on the floor, splashing sauce. Okay, so maybe not. Sighing, Martin grabbed a sponge from under the sink and crouched down to wipe off the brown, sticky goo when he heard his doorbell ring. There was only one person who would show up at his apartment uninvited this late on Friday. Smiling, he walked to his front door and opened it to find a morose looking blonde agent on the other side.

"Hey, what are doing here?" He moved aside so Sam could enter. "What's wrong?"

Sam shrugged and said, "I'm sorry to show up so late. I just didn't feel like being alone. Is it okay if I hang out here for awhile?"

"Of course, I already ate but I can make you something?" Martin made a move to the kitchen.

"I'm not hungry but I wouldn't mind a beer."

"You got it. Sit down, I'll be right back." Martin said as he walked into the kitchen. He returned to find Sam leaning back on the sofa with her eyes closed. He put her bottle down on the coffee table and joined her on the couch. He took a drink of his beer, not saying a word.

The sat in companionable silence before Sam finally spoke up. "This was a hard week."

"Yes, it was." Martin softly responded.

"What a waste of a life. I can't get the image of her out of my mind. It was horrible."

"I know. I don't think I'll be getting to sleep anytime soon."

"Yeah," Sam opened her eyes to pick up her beer and took a long drink. She leaned back again, holding the beer to her.

He sensed that the cases weren't the only thing on her mind but if he learned one thing during his relationship with Sam is that if you just give her time she will open up eventually.

"I talked to my sister tonight." Sam opened her eyes to look at Martin. "She wants me to go home to Kenosha for Thanksgiving."

"You don't want to go?" Martin asked, as far as he knew she and her mom had been talking at least once every few weeks and seemed to be getting along well.

Sam blew out a breath and tilted her head back and forth. "Yes and no. I haven't been home in I don't know how long. Talking on the phone is one thing but having to spend an entire weekend there is another. I just don't know if I can handle it. I don't like how I feel when I am there."

Martin didn't respond but just nodded his head and took a drink.

"What do you think?" Sam asked. "Should I go?"

"Sam, I can't answer that for you."

"I'm not asking you to tell me what to do but what you think."

Martin eyed her carefully, hesitating. He really wanted her to go home to try and fix some of her family issues. He honestly thought it might help her see the value of family but it had to be her choice. But she did ask what he thought. "I think you should go. You haven't seen them in awhile and you did tell me that you missed them. In the end it is only four days tops."

Sam nodded her head and said, "True. I don't know. I'll have to think about it." She turned her attention to the TV, seemingly intrigued by the sports highlights. She watched for a few minutes before turning to him and saying, "You know, they're showing _Rear Window _on AMC."

Martin smiled and reached for the remote.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

XXXXXXX

Sam opened her eyes feeling warm and sleepy. She looked around and realized that she wasn't at home in her own bed but on a sofa; Martin's sofa. Slowly the memory of coming over to Martin's late last night entered her mind and the last thing she remembered was watching _Rear Window_ as they discussed voyeurism. She must have fallen asleep. There was a pillow under her head and she was covered by a warm, soft blanket. Martin's handy work no doubt. She pulled off the blanket and sat up to stretch. Her arms were high above her head causing her shirt to ride up and expose her belly when she heard, "Ooo…nice."

She lowered her arms and looked over to see Martin leaning against the wall smiling at her. He was wearing loose fitting cargo shorts and a grey t-shirt; his hair was spikey and flat on one side and he looked absolutely adorable. She gave him a small smile and greeted, "Good morning."

"Morning," He replied; watching her with an amused expression. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for letting me crash on your couch."

"Hey, mi casa es su casa." Martin gave her a small grin as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "Coffee?"

"Yes." She replied firmly.

Martin nodded and headed to the kitchen. She stood up, trailing him from behind as she finger combed out her ponytail. He was moving busily around the kitchen so she asked, "Need any help?"

"Nah, I got it. Oh, you can get the creamer out of the fridge." He added casually as he poured the coffee grounds into the coffee maker.

Sam walked over to the refrigerator and couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment at how domestic the scene felt. It was like when the early days of their relationship, when they would sleep at each others place and have breakfast the next morning. The only difference being the lack of mind blowing sex the night before. She quickly reminded herself not to go there – they were taking it slow. But, damn, it was taking all her will power to not ravage Martin when he was so close and things were going so well between them.

She looked over to where he was standing looking through his cupboards and wondered if he was having the same self-restraint issues. By his casual ease she doubted it. Of course, Martin had always managed to look comfortable in his own skin; it was a trait she envied in him. As she was studying him she couldn't help but have her gaze drift down to his rear end. Damn.

Martin turned to look at her and said, "The coffee should be done in a few minutes. Are you hungry?"

"Huh? Um, yeah, that'd be great." She stammered out.

"What would you like? I have cereal, bagels, or I can make waffles." Sam grinned and Martin immediately knew what she wanted. "Okay, waffles it is."

As he started gathering the ingredients and putting them in a bowl Sam looked over at the refrigerator. She always knew family was important to Martin and he always kept photos of his nieces and cousins on his fridge; she noticed that there were a few new additions since the last time she was here. She walked over to study them more closely. There was a photo of Martin on the _Muireann_ with his nieces; they were all behind the helm and he was letting the girls steer. Then a photo of Martin talking with his Dad; their hair looked windswept, causing Sam to surmise that it was taken while they were sailing. The last photo was of the entire Fitzgerald family, including the two sons-in-law, standing on the deck of the sailboat.

"Since you're blocking the fridge can you grab me a couple of eggs?" Sam turned to find Martin leaning against the counter watching her with a smile.

"Sure, sorry." She opened the door and grabbed two eggs from the tray and handed them to him. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Martin took the eggs and went back to mixing the batter as he commented. "Those were taken a few days before I left."

She closed the door and replied, "It looks like it was a fun day."

"It was."

Sam sat back down but her eyes kept drifting back to the photos. The only things on the refrigerator at her place were take-out menus. "You're really lucky to get along so well with your family."

Martin poured the batter into the hot waffle iron and turned around to face her. "Yeah, most days we get along but we have our fair share of issues just like any one else."

"Doesn't seem like it, I mean, you're mom alone is great."

Martin gave a soft laugh, "The Katherine you know is very different from the mother I grew up with. Don't get me wrong, I love her but she's much better than she used to be. When I was growing up she could be smothering and very difficult to please." Martin paused, "Parker thinks it's the grandchildren that softened them up. As for me, I know moving across the country helped."

Martin trimmed off the excess batter spilling over as he continued, "And my sisters and I had our ups and downs like all siblings. It took years for us to move past that 'stop touching me – I'm not touching you' phase." He moved to retrieve plates from the cupboard. "Of course, if you ask them they would swear I was the evil doer but in my defense, if Parker didn't want her diary read she shouldn't have left it in the top shelf of her closet, tucked between blankets and in a locked box where just anyone could find it."

He turned to face Sam and gave her a wink. She emitted a soft laugh. "Oh man, you were that brother."

"Guilty as charged; but it was a two way street. They used to cause me just as much grief."

They smiled at one another and Sam softly said, "I don't know, still seems like you guys get along pretty well all things considered."

"Well, we're family." He replied, meeting her eyes. "In the end, family is all you have."

They held each others gaze until the ding of the waffle maker sounded announcing breakfast was ready.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

XXXXXXX

Sam hurried around her apartment simultaneously trying to get dressed and straighten up the living room. Deciding that the way she looked was more important than some dust on the furniture, she gave up and headed back to her bedroom to finish getting ready. She couldn't believe how anxious she was feeling. You would think it was her first date ever with Martin; not a pretend 'first date' with a man of whom she had intimate carnal knowledge.

After their time together on Friday night they had tried to reschedule their date for Saturday but Sam was on call and as fate would have it, she was called in on a case that they just wrapped up today, Thursday. So rather than risk losing another opportunity they decided to make it tonight; a school night nonetheless.

She finished applying her make-up and headed out to the bedroom to put on her dress. Smiling she pulled the strappy number over her head knowing that Martin would be pleased. He always complained that she never wore enough dresses because he loved being able to put his hand on her bare knee. She headed to her dresser to get her silver earrings when the doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand: 7:30 PM.

She picked up the earrings, putting them on as she walked down the hall. She looked into the peephole and smiled as she saw Martin fidgeting with his shirt, looking as nervous as her.

Opening the door she grinned and said, "Hi."

"Wow." Martin commented as he scanned his eyes over her dress. "You look amazing."

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." Sam grinned at Martin as he stood there seemingly awestruck. "So, are you going to come in or stand there all night?"

That seemed to knock Martin back into his senses, "Right, sorry. Oh, these are for you."

He handed her a bouquet of peach colored roses.

"Thanks, they're beautiful." Sam sniffed the fragrant aroma of the flowers and said, "I'll just go put them in some water. Sit down."

Martin took a seat on her sofa as she headed to the kitchen. She put the roses in a vase and walked back into the living room and put them on the dining table. She was about to thank him again when she saw him looking around the apartment with a lost look on his face. "Is everything alright?"

He swallowed and replied, "Yeah, just checking out all the changes you've made."

Sam realized that he meant the new furniture she had purchased since they broke up. "Yeah, I got rid of that old sofa; two new springs started digging into my thigh so I finally broke down and got a new one."

They shared a smile about the memories they had of making out on the couch. Sam always made sure Martin was on the bottom and he would always complain because the springs would dig into his back.

"Thank goodness that thing was dangerous." Martin smiled lamely.

Wanting to shake off the melancholy mood that threatened to envelope them Sam nodded her head in the direction of the door and asked, "So, shall we?"

"Yeah," He started to her door and said, "I actually have to stop at the ATM. According to Danny, this new French restaurant is amazing but they only take cash."

"Sounds suspicious," Sam commented.

"That's what I said, but Danny insists it's because the chef is a feisty older woman who was raised in the depression era and doesn't trust credit cards." Martin commented as he waited in the hallway as she locked the door.

They talked about random things as they made their way from Sam's apartment to the ATM a few blocks away. Martin walked up to the machine as Sam hung back. A man in a hooded sweatshirt and ragged jeans got in line behind him and she felt a chill go up her spine. 'Shit' she thought, cursing the fact that she didn't bring her gun with her; damn tiny evening bags.

The guy had all the classic telltale signs of a desperate junkie. Martin was facing the ATM pressing buttons when she heard the unmistakable sound of cash being distributed. She didn't want to startle the young man who appeared to be on edge as it was, so she scanned her brain trying to think of a way to alert Martin without alarming the potential mugger.

Smiling, she walked over and stood alongside him, put her arm under his jacket, unclipped his gun from the safety harness, and loudly said, "Sweetie, I think we should call the babysitter to make sure little Danny is okay."

Martin turned to her with a confused look on his face when he spotted the man behind him pull out a knife and rush towards them shouting, "Gimme all your money!"

"Okay, buddy, calm down." Martin responded, trying to sound calm as Sam kept her arm under his coat and began to slowly pull the gun out. "Here this is all the money I have. It's seven hundred, the limit." Martin held out the handful of cash for the man to take.

The mugger greedily snatched it out of his hands and turned to Sam, yelling as he waved the knife around. "Now give me what you got!"

Martin turned to Sam and said, "Yeah, honey, give him what you've got."

"Okay." Sam stepped away pulling out Martin's gun and said, "Freeze! F.B.I.!"

XXXX

Cursing softly Sam continued writing up her report while Martin had disappeared to the men's room. After they successfully apprehended the mugger the police came to pick him up but asked that they fill out a statement because this particular mugger had been robbing people for a better part of the year and a statement from federal agents would really help their case against him. Once the officer took a look at their attire he told them they could do it tomorrow if they preferred but unfortunately Sam was due in court all day Friday and Martin was going to Long Island to visit his uncle and cousins for the weekend so it would have to be tonight.

So here Sam sat: in a dingy interview room filling out paperwork and lamenting their bad luck when Martin returned.

"I come bearing haute cuisine from Le Vending Machine." Martin said in a French accent vaguely reminiscent of Pepé Le Pew. "Would the lady care for Le Doritos or Le Nestlé Crunch?"

He waved the red bag and blue packaged candy bar in the air for her to see.

"The lady will have the Nestlé Crunch." Sam responded flatly, her hand outstretched. She wanted to be amused by Martin's attempt at making the best of a lousy situation but she was entirely too disappointed to even try.

Martin delicately placed the treat into her hand and pulled a can of diet soda out of his jacket pocket as he continued in his lovelorn skunk-like impression, "And from the finest NYPD Precinct reserves, a can of diet soda, circa 2005."

Sam gave him a forced smile as she un-wrapped the candy bar and bit into it.

Giving up, Martin slumped into his chair saying, "I'm disappointed too, Sam."

She shrugged and continued chewing the chocolate confection before saying, "No, I'm sorry. I know I'm sulking but I was really looking forward to tonight."

Martin nodded as he gently reached out to grab her hand and said, "Hey, look at it this way: I think we may have Danny and Emma beat in the 'who had the worst first-date' competition."

Sam couldn't help but smile at that thought when Pepé Le Martin pulled her arm closer and began kissing it in an exaggerated fashion saying, "You are my peanut. I am your brittle."

Laughing Sam thought maybe this first date wasn't so bad after all.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

XXXXXXX

The following Monday morning, Danny walked into the break-room whistling a happy tune and saw Martin standing at the counter pouring a cup of coffee.

"Morning, Marty," Danny grinned as he reached into the cupboard to get a coffee mug of his own. "Pour me a cup as long as you have it out."

Martin raised an eyebrow but did as instructed. "You're awfully chipper this morning."

"It's a beautiful day my friend." Danny chimed as he took a drink of his coffee. He looked at Martin and asked, "So, what are you doing next Friday night?"

"I'm…" Martin began.

"Cancel it." Danny started walking out and over his shoulder said, "Next Friday you are having dinner with Emma and me. You can bring Sam if you want."

Danny was down the hall before Martin had a chance to respond.

XXXX

That Friday night Martin and Sam were walking to the restaurant to meet Danny and Emma. Martin was fidgeting a lot, taking his hands in and out of his pockets; crossing and uncrossing his arms, until finally Sam couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Alright, what's wrong?"

Martin looked at her and replied, "Nothing, what makes you think something's wrong?" Sam just stared at him knowingly until he finally relented, "I'm just a little nervous about meeting Emma."

"Why? Danny's dating her not you."

Martin looked across the street and cleared his throat. "It's just…..I mean, she has seen me before but…."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that." Sam reached out to hold his hand. "We can postpone if you're not ready. I'm sure Emma would understand."

"Nah, she's important enough for Danny to want me to meet her. I can deal with it." Martin said somewhat unconvincingly.

Sam just nodded as she squeezed his hand and they continued walking down the block.

As the entered Café Gray, they spotted Emma and Danny sitting at the bar. Martin held onto Sam's hand as he led her through the bustling crowd.

"Hey, you made it!" Danny exclaimed at seeing Martin and Sam. He stood up from his stool and made introductions. "Agent Martin Fitzgerald, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Emma Close."

"Nice to meet you," Martin said as he shook Emma's hand. He had to admit that Danny had great taste in women. She was absolutely gorgeous – not as much as Sam – but still beautiful. "It's good to meet the woman who has been making this guy so happy."

"Nice to finally meet you, too, Martin." Emma responded blushing. "Hi Samantha, it's good to see you again."

"Hi, Emma," Sam replied as Emma leaned in to give her a friendly hug.

The group made small talk until the hostess approached telling them their table was ready. As they made their way to the table, Sam's cell phone rang. She excused herself to answer it leaving Martin, Danny and Emma sitting at the table. Martin immediately missed the distraction Sam offered.

"I heard that the pan seared tuna here was spectacular." Emma casually remarked.

"Hey," Sam said as she walked to the table. "Looks like I gotta duck out. That was Jack. I have to go investigate a possible case." Sam frowned as she turned to Danny, "And since you're on call too, you get to come with me."

"Danny, I can go." Martin interrupted, grateful for an excuse to duck out early.

"Actually, it needs to be Danny; the family only speaks Spanish. Sorry." While Sam's gaze was directed to Emma, Martin noticed that she gave him an apologetic look as well.

"That's okay, but I would like it marked down for the record: you were the one called away this time." Emma smirked at Danny as he stood up and leaned in to kiss her goodbye.

"Yeah, yeah," Danny waved goodbye and followed Sam out saying, "You guys should still stay and eat. No sense the evening being ruined for all of us."

Emma and Martin looked at one another but Emma was the one who spoke first, "I am hungry…"

"Um, yeah, I guess we could eat." Martin answered awkwardly.

Sam and Danny waved goodbye and continued walking away. As they neared the exit Martin saw Sam mouth 'Good luck' as she headed out the door.

Emma leaned forward and looked directly at Martin, "Look, if this makes you uncomfortable, we can do this another time, when Sam and Danny are around."

"Nah, why would I be uncomfortable?" Martin responded with a forced laugh.

Emma gave him an evaluating look and softly said, "Okay."

Martin knew that he was the one making the situation awkward so he decided to try and cut the tension, "So, Emma, you're dating Danny." Emma looked up questioningly when Martin's eyes met hers and he grinned, "Why exactly?"

Thankfully Emma laughed.

The rest of the evening was actually quite pleasant. He could definitely understand why Danny was so happy these days. He and Emma chatted about food, Danny, their work, and bad first dates.

"Okay, that was a pretty lousy first date." Emma admitted. "But, apprehending a criminal is something to be proud of so I still think Danny and I win. At the end of our first date I had blisters on my feet, two ruined outfits and a mild phobia of cab drivers."

"Okay, you guys win." Martin acquiesced. He took a drink of his wine and asked, "So, tell me, after such a lousy date why did you agree to date Danny again?"

Emma looked at him and with a smile on her face she answered, "I figured if he could encounter that many obstacles and still be optimistic, this is a guy I wanted to know better. I mean, I know plenty of guys who would have gotten angry or confrontational with the cab drivers – but Danny just kept trying to make me laugh and make sure I was okay. That's a pretty important quality in a guy I'm dating."

Martin nodded his head in agreement. "You really like him don't you?"

"Oh yeah, he's great. I mean what girl wouldn't? Once you get past the hard-headed, stubbornness he's funny, smart, and pretty darn sexy." Emma grinned.

"I know I think so." Martin quipped.

Emma gave a soft laugh and added, "Plus, it's great to meet a guy who wants to have a family someday. That's really important." She paused to take a bite of her dessert. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Martin asked.

"Well, I think I kinda know the type of woman you like based on Sam but do you want the whole deal; marriage, kids, etc.?" She asked, taking a sip of her water.

Martin paused for a moment to consider his answer as he recalled a conversation he had with Sam almost two years ago.

XXX

"_Let me guess – 2.2, white picket fence, golden retriever." Sam quipped._

"_Yeah, maybe, something like that." Martin answered earnestly._

"_Not for me. Not in this world."_

XXX

Martin looked at Emma and answered, "Yes, I want a family of my own." What he didn't add was he wasn't sure Sam wanted the same thing.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

XXXXXXX

After saying goodnight and sending Emma off in a cab, Martin started walking home. He had to admit that he had a nice evening. Emma was a lot of fun, easy to talk to and despite his initial hesitation, she put him immediately at ease and the self-conscious feeling dissipated. Unfortunately, she also made him start thinking about something he had been avoiding since getting back to New York: Sam and their future together. The truth was he and Sam had never discussed their future because they were too engrossed in how to make it work in the present.

As Martin walked he started thinking back to a session he had with Dr. Salinger back in Washington shortly before he left.

XXXX

"_So, this woman you used to date wants to get back together?" Dr. Salinger asked in her ever so clinical tone._

"_Yeah," Martin replied as he shifted in the chair. _

_Dr. Salinger propped her head up in her hands and asked, "And what do you want to do?"_

_Martin tilted his head and said, "If you had asked me that over two months ago I would have said that I absolutely would want Sam back, but now, I have so many doubts I just don't know." _

"_What are those doubts?"_

"_Um, well, it was not an easy relationship the first time around. It was almost bipolar –there were so many ups and downs." Martin confessed, voicing his inner doubts. "But when it was good it was really good. On the other hand, I felt like she was constantly pushing me away, that she didn't treat me the way I thought a woman should treat a boyfriend."_

_Dr. Salinger straightened her back and said, "Martin, I know it's cliché but people will never love you the way you want them to. Maybe it was hard for Sam to express herself."_

_Martin shrugged and replied, "I don't know. It never seemed like she had a hard time expressing herself when she was angry."_

_Dr. Salinger decided to leave his comment alone and said, "Well, this is one doubt, what are the others?"_

"_It's hard to articulate. More like just a feeling, an anxiety."_

_Dr. Salinger scrutinized him for a moment before saying, "Martin, I think you know what those doubts are. I think you are just afraid to say them." She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a notebook handing it to Martin. "Tell you what I want you to do. Make a list of the pros and cons of getting back together with Samantha."_

"_You want me to make a list?" Martin looked at her incredulous as he took the notebook. "You're kidding right?"_

"_I know it sounds silly but it really is an effective tool. It allows you to write down things that maybe you would not want to say aloud." Martin continued to look at her skeptically. "It doesn't matter how much you write but I think it might help you focus those 'doubts' that you have."_

_Shrugging Martin accepted his task. _

_Martin procrastinated doing his 'homework' until the night before his follow-up session with Dr. Salinger. Drinking a beer, Martin sat on the deck of the Murieanne and tried to start the list. He felt ridiculous. How could he list his and Sam's relationship on paper? He sat there concentrating on what words to use and slowly he started writing things down. He started with the pros: he cared about her a lot, she was smart, could be unexpectedly funny, sexy,... Martin continued writing and before he knew it he had filled an entire page of pros and cons._

_The next day, he showed his list to Dr. Salinger who sat quietly reading it over. Martin sat there trying to read her reactions to what he had written but being a psychiatrist she was a very difficult text – even by a federal agent. _

_At long last she spoke up, "So, how did you feel when you read over the list?"_

_Martin wrung his hands together before softly replying, "Good actually." _

"_That is good." She pulled out the list and laid it on the coffee table between them. "I'd like to talk about some of the things you wrote. The first thing you wrote on the 'Con' side was 'family'. Can you explain that to me?"_

_Martin stood up and walked to the window. He couldn't believe he'd written that down as the first thing but once he had started writing stuff down it was the first thing that popped into his head. "About a year before we started seeing each other she had told me that she never wanted to get married or have kids." He picked up a framed photo of who he assumed was Dr. Salinger's grandson. "I never really thought about it when we started doing whatever it was we were doing but now, after all that has happened, I guess I've realized how important family is to me. That I want to be a father someday."_

"_And you don't think that is what Samantha wants?" Dr. Salinger asked softly._

"_Based on what she said, no."_

"_Okay, well, that is something you definitely need to think about. But you know, since that was over two years ago it is possible that her feelings have changed since then."_

_Martin turned to look at Dr. Salinger, "Do you think that's possible?"_

"_Anything's possible. I think that maybe when you talk to her again you need to discuss this. It is a rather large issue to ignore."_

XXXX

By the time Martin arrived at his apartment the only thing he could focus on was how well things were going between him and Sam. He knew that he had to talk to her about the future but he also knew he was scared to know what the answer might be.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

XXXXXXX

Martin walked down the hall to Sam's apartment wearing charcoal grey slacks and a dark blue shirt with the top button undone. Sam had called him early Saturday morning to invite him to her place for a home cooked meal. He didn't even know she could cook. As he approached he debated on whether or not to talk to her about how she saw their future but as he neared the door he could already feel that he was losing his nerve.

He knocked and heard Sam yell, "Come in! It's unlocked!"

He opened the door and was greeted by smoke and a strong odor he didn't recognize. He entered the kitchen and saw Sam at the stove wearing a white apron that looked like this was its inauguration meal. She had her hair pulled up into a ponytail looking simultaneously cool and frazzled. There were pots and pans everywhere, the cabinet doors were open and it looked like a flour bomb had exploded.

Martin smiled and said, "Betty Crocker I presume?"

"Hi!" Sam walked over to where he stood and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "You're on time but I'm running late. However," She held her finger up and pulled some pastries out of the oven. "I have appetizers ready." She lifted a puffed pastry up to his lips and Martin happily accepted it.

He chewed it and smiled at her, saying "Wow, that's a really unusual taste." _Kinda like puffed chalk with cheese, _Martin thought.

"I'm glad you like them; they took me all day to make. Why don't you sit down in the living room and you can finish the rest of them." Sam smiled happily at him as she set a plate of about 15 of the pastries in front of him. _Oh God, Martin thought. He was going to have to eat all of those?_ "Oh, let me get you a glass of wine."

Sam walked back into the kitchen and came back carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. She poured Martin a glass, put it on the coffee table and then stood there watching him.

Knowing what she was waiting for, Martin smiled, reached for another puffed pastry and popped it into his mouth. "Yum," Martin exclaimed as he reached for the wine and took a big drink.

Sam smiled and walked back into the kitchen. Martin looked back at the full plate in front of him and he seriously wished that Sam owned a dog. He tried to think of a way to get out of eating the offensive pastries but looking around he knew he had no choice but to consume them. He picked one up, bit it in half and then chased it with a large amount of wine.

"Don't be shy." Sam said walking back into the living room sans apron. "Those are all for you. I was noshing as I cooked and I've had my fill of cheese for awhile."

"I don't want to get too full; I want to make sure there's plenty of room for dinner." Martin smiled while internally grimacing.

He put the second half of the treat into his mouth and took a serious look at what Sam was wearing. With her apron gone, Martin saw that she was wearing a black silk halter dress. It was short, flirty and backless. Suddenly Martin's throat went dry and he knew it wasn't just the work of the cheese puff.

Sam must have felt his eyes on her because she smiled coquettishly, sat down next to him and purred, "I've decided that this technically counts as our third date."

"Really?" Martin swallowed. The truth was they had so many failed attempts at dating that he couldn't even keep track anymore.

"Yeah," She leaned in closely so he could feel her warm breath on his cheek. "There was the date that was interrupted by the mugger. Then the dinner with Danny and Emma – which while I did have to leave early should still count since I did get dressed up and we went to a public restaurant."

"Um, yeah, I guess you're right." Martin tilted his face towards Sam's and kissed her softly on the lips. Sam moved closer, pressing her lips more firmly to his as she moved one hand to his face, deepening the kiss.

The kiss was soft and warm and entirely too brief as the oven dinger beeped breaking the moment. Sam pulled back and smiled, "C'mon, let's go eat dinner. I have a feeling you are going to need lots of carbs."

She stood up and headed to the kitchen. Martin would have followed her but the kiss (and what it meant) seemed to have left him unable to walk; at least for a few minutes anyway.

When he finally sat down at the table, Sam placed a dish in front of him. He couldn't tell what was on it exactly: the 'meat' was dark brown, square and accompanied by a white lump, he assumed they must be mashed potatoes, and the very recognizable green beans. He looked over at Sam's plate which mirrored his own with the exception of the brown mystery meat. "Where's your, uh, meat?"

"Burned it," She frowned, "But I was able to save your filet."

"Oh, thanks." Martin said while mentally cursing his luck that Sam couldn't have burned both of them. He sliced into the meat and while the outside was charcoal black the inside looked pale pink. Maybe not all is lost Martin mused as he put the piece into his mouth. However, as he chewed the only thing he could think was while he had actually never eaten road kill, this is what it would taste like. "Mmmm…"

"So, how do you like it?" She asked.

He smiled and mumbled, "It's like nothing I've ever eaten."

Sam smiled cheerily at him and began to eat her white lumpy stuff and green beans. Martin reached for the bread and every time he took a bite of the 'meat' he chased it with bread and wine. If Sam wasn't watching him like a hawk he might have been able to fool her by rearranging stuff on his plate but she kept her eyes on him as each morsel was moved from plate to mouth.

They had a lively conversation all throughout dinner talking about Danny and Emma, the case that turned out to be a runaway situation, and the delicious dessert, which thankfully, Sam had purchased from a local bakery.

When dinner was over, Sam said she would clear the table and she'd meet Martin in the living room. He took the opportunity to excuse himself heading to the bathroom as he scoured her medicine cabinet looking for anything in the antacid family. He knew that this dinner was going to haunt him later and this being the long-awaited third date he didn't want anything to ruin it. After a brief search he found a small open package of cherry flavored Tums, he chewed and swallowed the last two tablets before rinsing his mouth out and heading back out to the living room.

When he returned he saw that Sam had lit candles and was lounging on the sofa, her hair out of the ponytail and spilling over her shoulders. Sipping her wine, she smiled and said, "Hey."

"Hey," Martin replied as he picked up his own glass and took a seat next to her. He tried to think of what he could say when Sam grabbed his glass and put it on the table with hers and moved her face to Martin's.

She scanned his face for acceptance before moving in and kissing him firmly on the lips.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

WARNING: NC-17

XXXXXXX

Sam was tired of waiting and she decided to take action into her own hands. She kissed Martin with everything she had and wasn't disappointed when he returned her kiss with the same zeal. She pushed him further back on the couch and leaned heavily onto him. She felt Martin's warm hands caressing her bare back, sending a tingling sensation that hit her at her core. She missed the feeling of his hands on her flesh. She moved to climb onto his lap, placing a knee on either side of his hips as she held his face with both of her hands and kissed him deeply.

Martin's hands moved from her lower back and traveled to her thighs, touching and caressing before slowly guiding them upwards and under her skirt to that tender place where they met her hips. His hands began moving in slow rhythmic circles before moving around to cup her ass, pulling her tightly against him. Sam rocked slowly on his lap, gliding along his erection that was straining against his slacks. Sam moved her hands to his shoulders as Martin moved his mouth to her neck and collarbone before turning his focus to that sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder meet.

Sam moved back, breaking contact with Martin's kisses. He paused, panting, with his eyes focused on her; his pupils were dilated, full of desire, his lips swollen from kisses. Without breaking eye contact, she raised her hands behind her neck to untie her halter top letting the straps fall forward, revealing the top half of her breasts. Martin's gaze dropped to her chest as he brought his hands out from under her skirt and grabbed a strap with each hand and pulled the rest of her top down to expose her breasts. He moved a hand to each breast, gently lifting and squeezing before bringing one nipple to his mouth, carefully and lightly sucking causing Sam to moan out loud. She braced herself by putting one hand on the back of the sofa and the other on the back of his neck. She tilted her head back, enjoying all the sensations Martin's mouth was creating.

Needing to feel his skin on hers, Sam pulled back again, putting her mouth on Martin's. As they kissed she moved her hands to the front of his shirt. She tried to unbutton them but after two frustrated attempts she just ripped it open. Martin gave her a throaty laugh that was silenced by her mouth on his. She moved her hands to caress him, loving the feel of his warm hard chest; she could feel his heart racing against the palm of her hand. She started trailing kisses from his mouth to his chin, down his neck and onto his chest. She opened her eyes to study his chest and softly gasped.

She looked up at his face; he was watching her carefully, gauging her reaction at seeing his chest, scarred from bullets and surgery. She turned her gaze away from him and with her eyes wide open she ran her fingertips over his scars, studying them before leaning in and kissing them tenderly. First, his shoulder, then his chest and then she brought her face back up to his; kissing him firmly on the mouth.

Martin moved his hands back to Sam's hips, softly massaging as he inched his hands to the inside of her panties. Slipping his fingers inside the soft, hot, wet patch of hair, he gently began rubbing the delicate bundle of nerves. Sam shut her eyes tight, biting her lip, and huskily said, "Wait, wanna come together."

She held Martin's hand still as she moved back and reached down and unzipped his pants. Martin tilted his head back on the sofa, breathing deeply. Reaching inside, she grabbed hold of his erection and stroked it while kissing Martin's jaw line. Martin raised his head to watch her when he urged her back so he could lift his hips and pull his pants further down. Settling back on the sofa, he moved his hand between Sam's thighs and shoved her panties aside before guiding her hips down onto him, her inner muscles contracting and expanding around him. She slid down slowly, inch by inch, enjoying the sensation of Martin being deep inside of her; her breathing was heavy and labored as she adjusted herself to fit him.

She shifted again and Martin groaned in appreciation as she slowly began rocking against him. He held her hips as they slowly found a pace that was satisfying to both of them. Once they found a rhythm, Sam put her hands on his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin and placed her forehead on Martin's. She opened her eyes to find that Martin had done the same. She stared into his deep blue eyes and shifted once again, taking him deeper inside her.

Sam released small, hot puffs of breath as each thrust increased in speed. After a few more thrusts, she felt the spasm of climax and moaned loudly before going limp against him. Martin grabbed her by the hips and pulled her close as he turned to lay her on the sofa, sliding into her again. After a few more thrusts, Sam's contractions were matched by Martin's, who groaned in pleasure.

They lay like that for a few heartbeats, Sam relishing the feel of Martin's heavy weight on top of her, their bodies covered in perspiration. Eventually, Martin rolled over onto his side, his back up against the sofa as he began planting slow lazy kisses along her neck and mumbled, "I think this could be called a successful date."

Sam laughed and rolled over to kiss him saying, "Yeah, I can't wait for the fourth."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

XXXXXXX

Sam felt a chill so she scooted back seeking Martin's warmth – only to be greeted by the back of the sofa. Opening her eyes she realized that she was alone. Disappointed, she shrunk back onto the sofa when she heard strange sounds coming from the back of the apartment. Pulling the blanket around her tightly, she stood up and padded softly down the hall. As she entered the darkened bedroom she saw a line of light at the bottom of the bathroom door. Believing Martin had just gotten up for a pee, she decided to climb into the bed when she heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting. She walked to the bathroom door and turned the knob to find it locked.

"Martin? Are you okay?" Then she heard it again. "Martin, open the door."

There was a brief pause and Sam briefly wondered if she could kick the door in when he finally spoke up, his voice strained and raspy. "I'm fine, Sam. Go back to sleep."

"You don't sound fine. Open the door." Sam insisted, shaking the doorknob for emphasis.

"No, really, I'm okay." There was a brief silence when he added, "I think I just drank too much wine."

Sam paused, knowing that he did not have enough wine to make him ill but she still decided to give him a minute. She reached for some clothes that she had left on a chair and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She paced outside the door for a while, contemplating if she should walk away and give him some privacy when she heard him get ill again. She waited until he was done and then firmly said, "That's it, Martin, let me in now."

After a few moments, she heard the toilet flush and then the lock click. She reached for the doorknob and walked in, finding Martin slumped in the corner next to the toilet bowl with his back against the tub. He was fully clothed, wearing the outfit he had on earlier. Ignoring her irritation that Martin appeared dressed as if he had planned on leaving before he got sick, she instead focused on how awful he looked; he was pale and clammy. She crouched down next to him and put a hand on his forehead, he was really warm.

Grunting, Martin grabbed her hand, pulling it away from his head, and said, "I'm fine."

"Martin, you have a fever…"

He interrupted and said, "Maybe I have that stomach flu that has been going around."

She touched his head again, he felt really hot. She looked him over before saying, "Maybe, we should take you to see a doctor."

Martin shook his head slowly and replied, "No. I don't want to go anywhere near a doctor's office."

"Martin, you look really bad." Sam stood up and grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet, running it under cold water before crouching back down and putting it on his forehead.

He shook his head again and firmly said, "No more doctors Sam. I've seen enough lately."

Once she nodded in agreement, he closed his eyes and seemed to enjoy the cool compress when he quickly lurched forward to put his head over the toilet bowl and throw up again. To her credit, Sam stayed and rubbed his back until he was finished. When it looked like nothing more would come up, he leaned back against the wall and Sam put the compress back on his forehead. It continued on like that for over a half-an-hour. She wondered what she could do for him, she didn't have any medicine she could give him that he wouldn't just throw back up and he insisted that he didn't want to go see a doctor.

Well, Sam thought, standing up and going to get her cell, she'll just have a doctor come see him.

Forty-five minutes later Sam heard a soft knock on her door. Opening it, she smiled and said, "Hi, Emma, Danny. Thanks for coming so late."

"No problem." Emma remarked, as the couple entered the apartment. "So you said his symptoms were vomiting and a fever but up until a few hours ago he was fine?"

"Yeah, it came on pretty suddenly." Sam nodded, wishing she had thought to straighten up the apartment before they arrived. At the very least, she hoped that her living room didn't still smell like sex.

Emma looked around and asked, "Where is he?"

"He's in the bathroom," Sam motioned for Emma to follow her as she headed down the hall, "but I should warn you, he didn't want to see a doctor. He doesn't know I called you."

Emma stopped and looked at Sam. "Samantha…."

"Look, I wouldn't have called you if he wasn't really sick." Sam implored.

Emma hesitated a moment before nodding and continued following. She stopped again when she realized that Danny was trailing along as well. Turning to look back at him she said, "And where do you think you're going?"

"With you, Martin is my friend." Danny replied matter-of-factly.

"I don't think that's a good idea. You wouldn't want him to see you sick and throwing up." Emma argued.

Danny's lips twitched, wanting to smile, when he said, "I wouldn't care."

Emma just looked him directly in the face and laughingly said, "Yeah right. Go wait in the living room, please." And with that she followed Sam into the bedroom and shut the door.

When they entered the bathroom, they found that Martin was now lying completely flat on the floor, using a rolled-up towel as a pillow. He opened his eyes, looked at the two women and said, "Great, now it's a party."

Emma knelt down next to Martin as Sam hovered in the doorway. Emma touched his forehead and said, "If this is another attempt at winning that 'worst date ever' contest you have taken the competition to a whole new level."

"Ha. Ha." Martin remarked, closing his eyes again. "I wish it was."

Emma pulled a digital thermometer out of her medical bag and put the tip in Martin's ear. It beeped and read: 100.3. She cleared the thermometer's screen and said, "So, Sam told me that up until a few hours ago you were fine and that you think it's the stomach flu."

Martin opened his eyes, shifting them between Emma and Sam. Catching on, Emma turned to Sam and asked, "Samantha, do you have any Gatorade?"

"Yeah," She said with a nervous nod.

"I want you to pour some in a glass until it is half full and then dilute the rest of it with water. We'll need to start replenishing his fluids." Emma instructed.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Sam turned and walked away.

Once she was certain Sam was out of ear shot, Emma looked down at Martin and asked, "So, what's really going on?"

XXXX

"It's food poisoning." Martin mumbled, feeling absolutely miserable. About an hour after he and Sam fell asleep, he felt the first symptoms. It started with a stomach cramp and a general nauseous feeling. It was the same feeling he felt after eating a bowl of fish soup he bought from a vendor on a beach in Jamaica. He knew it was not going to be good and not wanting to hurt Sam's feelings, he thought it might be best to write her a note and rush home. He delicately maneuvered out from behind Sam, covered her with the blanket that was on the chair and hurriedly threw on his clothes. He could already feel his body beginning to revolt and knew that he needed to get out of there fast. But while he was searching for a pen to write the note he realized that leaving was now out of the question and he made a mad dash for the bathroom. Thankfully, his reflexes were quick enough and he made it there in the nick of time. Unfortunately, once the symptoms kicked in he knew he was stuck at Sam's; escape was no longer an option.

Well, at least the bathroom was clean and the rug was soft.

"I take it you've had this before." Emma commented and Martin nodded. "What restaurant did you guys go to and did Sam eat any of your food?"

"No restaurant. Sam cooked. And she didn't eat either one of the two foods I think caused it." Martin swallowed, hoping to rid himself of the taste of bile that arose at the mere memory of Sam's dinner.

"Well, I guess now I know why you told her it was the flu. That's really sweet." Emma remarked. "Okay, have you had any diarrhea or abdominal cramping?" Martin eyed her, not liking to have to share this much with his best friend's girlfriend. Noticing his hesitation, Emma looked at him and plainly stated, "I am a doctor."

"Just kill me now." Martin griped under his breath before answering. "Diarrhea at first but not since I started throwing up; some cramping but nothing severe."

"That's good. Well, since you've had this before I guess you know there's really nothing to do but drink plenty of fluids and just let it run its course." Martin frowned and nodded. "I do have something you can take for the vomiting but you're not going to like it."

Emma searched her bag and pulled out a small tinfoil wrapper that was shaped like a bullet.

Martin looked at her and said, "Please tell me that you're going to shoot me with it."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

XXXXXXX

"How is he?" Danny asked as Sam passed him on the sofa on her way to the kitchen.

"Still sick, I have to go get him some Gatorade." Sam replied as she continued walking to the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Danny stand up and start trailing behind her. She opened the fridge and pulled out a Gatorade Ice.

"Hey, are those cheese-puffs?" Danny asked, peeking into the fridge behind Sam. "I'm starving, can I have some?"

"Absolutely, it's the least I can do for dragging you guys over here so late at night. I made them myself." She pulled out the cheese-puffs and put them in the microwave to warm them up. She then moved to the cabinet and pulled out a tall drinking glass, filling it half-way with Gatorade before adding water. "I really appreciate Emma coming over to take a look at Martin. I hope I didn't ruin your night."

Danny sat at the table fiddling with the salt shaker. "No problem, we were actually on our way home from the movies."

Sam finished filling the glass before deciding to search the drawers for a straw; it would make it easier for Martin to drink.

Danny casually asked, "So, have you guys had one normal date since he got back?"

"Well, I thought tonight was going well…" Sam trailed off.

"Oh, man, that sucks." Danny chuckled.

Sam turned and threw him a dirty look when Emma walked in. "How is he?"

"He's going to be fine. It's…….the stomach flu. He just has to drink plenty of fluids and rest. It should disappear in about 24 to 48 hours." The microwave dinged and Danny stood up and walked to the microwave, pulling the plate out.

"That's great. Thank you so much for coming over." Sam said, visibly relieved.

"No problem." Emma eyed Danny as he waved his hand over the cheese puffs so they would cool before lifting one up to his mouth. "Danny, what are you eating?"

"Cheese-puffs, Sam made them." He nodded to Sam as he brought one up to his mouth.

"No!" Emma shouted. Both Sam and Danny stopped and looked at her. "I mean, Danny, you know I don't like you eating dairy this late."

"What? But I'm hungry." He brought the pastry back up to his mouth before Emma walked over and took it from him.

"No." She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. She turned to face a stunned Sam. "No offense but cheese keeps him up all night with gas."

"What the hell, Emma!" Danny looked absolutely indignant.

"I just don't want you to eat cheese." Emma said coolly. "It keeps me up all night, too."

"Where's this coming from?" Danny raised his voice. "You never said anything before!"

"I'm telling you now. Don't eat those cheese-puffs." Emma replied, punctuating each word.

"Look lady, I don't need or want you telling me what to do. I can do whatever I damn well please and eat whatever I want!" He waved the cheese-puff in her face.

Emma eyed him, looking annoyed and said, "Fine. Go ahead. Eat it."

"I will!" Danny brought another pastry to his lips when Emma jumped forward and knocked it out of his hands making Danny shout, "What's your problem!"

Emma stood there unsure of what to say when Sam quietly answered, "She didn't want you to get food poisoning. That's what Martin has, right? I gave him food poisoning."

Emma turned to her and frowned. "Sorry."

Sam felt awful. She tried to do something nice for Martin and ended up making him sick. "I'll just go take him the Gatorade."

The kitchen was silent as Sam moved to leave carrying the glass of watered down Gatorade. She was almost out the door when she heard Danny say, "I almost ate that."

"Shut up, Danny." Emma replied.

Sam entered the bathroom and saw that Martin was still lying in the middle of the floor. She crouched down next to him and softly said, "Hey, you should try and drink some of this."

Martin took the wet cloth off his head, sat up and took a small sip from the straw. As he moved to lay back down he looked at her crestfallen expression and said. "She told you?"

"No, I guessed." Sam moved over to sit cross-legged next to him. "Did it taste awful when you were eating it?"

Martin closed his eyes and remained silent.

Sam winced. "Why did you eat it then? Why didn't you just tell me?"

Martin stayed quiet for a moment before he opened his eyes to look at her and softly replied, "You looked so proud and happy. I didn't have the heart."

Sam gave him a gentle smile and scooted to the floor to lie down next to him. Once there she quietly said, "If you hadn't been puking for the last three hours I'd totally kiss you right now."

Martin released a quiet laugh as the two just lay there side by side on the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

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It was a foggy Tuesday morning in New York. The cloudy skies made the normally well-lit office appear dark and murky. And since Jack's office was in the center of the building, it was as gloomy as his mood. He wanted to sneak into its shadows and hide, to be alone with his depression. It was officially over, he thought, reading through the legal documents in his hand; the words 'finalized' and 'divorce' written boldly across the top of the page. Jack absentmindedly rubbed the ring on his finger and thought that if he were to be honest with himself, the marriage had actually died years ago, long before his affair with Sam.

Cause of Death: neglect.

He was the one who found it too easy to leave the business of the home and the kids in Maria's hands. He felt out of place in a home with happy kids and a wife who was smart and emotionally strong. He needed to be surrounded by dysfunction; that was what he understood. So he wasn't around when his girls hit their milestones: first tooth, first step, and so many more firsts that it was easier to list the things he was around to witness. Like the first time they realized that their dad was not the man they wanted him to be; that he was the first man to disappoint them and break their hearts.

It was a tough moment when he realized that he was almost a worse dad than his own. His dad was away months at a time as part of his military obligations. Jack was also never around but he lived and worked in the same city. He wondered if his girls would resent him as much.

The knocking at his door pulled Jack out of his self-misery. He shook off his depressing thoughts and answered, "Come in."

It was an agent delivering all the available details on the new case. After Jack dismissed him, he reviewed the files and got up to go inform the team.

As Jack stepped out of his office and started to the bullpen, he spotted Martin exiting the elevator. He stopped and waited for Martin to approach. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Better." Martin gave him a slight grin.

Jack looked him over carefully. For a guy who spent the last two days recovering from food poisoning he seemed to be in a really good mood. However, Jack decided, since it was a dinner prepared by Sam that caused Martin to get sick, he'd rather not think about why he was so cheerful.

"Good. We have a new case." Jack tilted his head, indicating for Martin to follow him.

Jack entered the bullpen where each of his agents sat at their respective desks. "Gather 'round boys and girls. Meet Jeremy Owen II, 17." Jack handed the missing boys picture to Sam. Jeremy was a good-looking boy: brown hair, blue eyes and a dimpled grin. He epitomized that all-American boy image. "He disappeared yesterday on his way to football practice."

"He's 17, any chance he just ran away?" Sam asked, passing the photo to Danny.

"No reported problems at home or school. All signs indicate his life was just peachy." Jack replied.

"Jeremy Owen? There's a former quarterback for the _NY Giants_ by that name, any relation?" Martin contributed.

"It's his son." He should have known that anything sports related Martin would know about. The man was a walking encyclopedia of sports trivia. "What do you know about the father?"

"He retired after a knee injury in 1997. He still does an occasional sports report for _ESPN_."

"Any scandals we should know about?"

"Well, there was an accusation of gambling but nothing ever came of it. There was the occasional rumor of him having affairs but in sports that's not really news."

Viv chimed in, "Are we sure it's not a kidnapping?"

"Highly doubtful, the kid disappeared yesterday afternoon and the parents haven't heard anything yet. I'll send the techs to wire tap the phone just in case. In the meantime, Martin, check into the father's financials for anything unusual, gambling debts, etc. But just in case, also look at junior's cell phone records. Danny and Sam, I want you to go to his house and talk to his parents. Be sure to check out his room. Viv, you can come with me to go talk to his coach." Jack looked around at the team and said, "Let's get to it."

As he waited for Viv to gather her things, Jack watched as Martin walked over to Sam's desk, saying something that made her laugh. He felt inklings of jealousy that Martin, who seemed like the most boring of men, could make her smile the smile he once thought was only for him.

"You ready, Jack?" He turned to see Viv eyeing him warily.

"Yeah, let's go." He motioned for her to go first and he got in step behind her, glancing back to see Martin on his way back to his desk, but both he and Sam were still smiling.

Jack and Viv entered the elevator and as the doors were about to close she softly said, "She's happy, Jack; try and be happy for her."

Knowing that Viv knew him too well to try and lie, he answered. "I am trying."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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The Owen's lived in a classic brick colonial with large white pillars along the front side. Danny pulled into the circular driveway, looking at the fountain in the center. In the fountain stood a statue of a quarterback posed as if preparing to throw a football.

Sam huffed next to him and said, "Some men just can't let go of their glory days."

Danny turned to her and smirked, "Maybe he just thought it was cool."

The federally issued plain-Jane white Ford Taurus parked behind a black Mercedes and a dark blue Rolls Royce. Feeling very much like a government employee, Danny stepped out of the car. It was raining a fine mist and he briefly wondered if he should get the umbrella out of the backseat but decided against it when he saw that Sam, the perpetual whiner of all things uncomfortable, didn't grab hers.

As they walked up the front steps of the mansion they looked around, trying to get a sense of Jeremy's home life. The only thing Danny could think about was that this Jeremy boy came from money. He rang the doorbell and a woman with shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes and dressed in a crisp pink blouse and tight black slacks answered the door.

"Hello, we're special agents Danny Taylor and Samantha Spade." Danny said showing her his badge while motioning to Sam who held hers up as well.

"Hello, I'm Jeremy's mother, Susan Owen." She stepped aside motioning for them to enter the foyer. The foyer was as large as Danny's apartment with vaulted ceilings and a spiral staircase. "The other agents have already arrived. They're setting up some equipment in the study."

"Good," Danny casually remarked before asking, "Is Mr. Owen here as well?"

"Yes, he's in the study." Mrs. Owen replied.

"I'm here." Jeremy Owen, Sr. remarked, walking towards them. "Do you have any leads yet?"

"We're working on it." Danny replied, sizing Owen up. He was a tall man; over six feet by Danny's guess and had the chiseled features of a Roman god.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, is there somewhere we can talk?" Sam asked, in that soft but serious tone she used when dealing with parents of missing children.

"Yes, we can use the sitting room. Follow me." Mrs. Owen led as she walked across the grand foyer into a room decorated in expensive antiques. The furniture was reminiscent of a sitting room in the early 1900's from the gas lamps embossed with floral prints to the textured wall paper. Above the fireplace with elaborate molding, was a painting of the Owen family. Jeremy Owen, Sr. sat on a brown leather chair looking formidable and in control; Susan stood to the right of him with a bright fake smile, her hand on his shoulder; and Jeremy Owen II standing on his other side with his hand on the back of the chair and a blank expression.

The Owens' sat on one sofa and Sam and Danny each took one of the chairs opposite them.

"Mrs. Owen, I know you gave a full report to the police but it would be really helpful if you could go through it with us as well." Sam asked.

"This morning I got call from Jeremy's football coach wanting to make sure that Jeremy was going to show up today for practice." Mrs. Owen said as she nervously smoothed her slacks. "I asked him what he meant by it when he told me that Jeremy didn't show up yesterday. I went up to his room and that's when I noticed that his bed hadn't been slept in."

"Do you normally not notice if your son doesn't come home at night?" Danny asked, his tone was mildly accusatory and clearly Mr. Owen picked up on it.

"We were at a fundraiser last night. We didn't get home until very late and we were so tired we just went straight to bed." Mr. Owen angrily replied. "Besides, he's 17. We stopped tucking him in years ago."

"Calm down, honey." Mrs. Owen said softly, patting her husband's knee.

"I will not 'calm down' – this guy is acting like we neglect our son." Mr. Owen narrowed his hard gaze directly at Danny.

Sam quickly interjected, trying to diffuse the situation. "Mr. Owen, I'm sorry if it sounds like we are accusing you of anything but we need to make sure we ask these questions so we can do our best to find Jeremy."

Mr. Owen clenched his jaw but nodded his head, saying. "We love our son, we just want Jeremy back."

Sam gave a gentle smile and continued in her questions. "Has Jeremy been having any problems at school or maybe with a girlfriend?"

"No problems at school but he did just break up with his girlfriend, Liana." Mrs. Owen replied.

"What is Liana's last name?" Danny asked.

"Cates." Mrs. Owen added, "She's a cheerleader for the team."

"Do you know why they broke up?" Sam asked.

Danny noticed that Mr. Owen looked away and Mrs. Owen, with downcast eyes simply replied, "No."

Sam and Danny exchanged looks and Sam asked, "It's really helpful it you can tell you anything you know or maybe suspect."

"She told you, we don't know." Mr. Owen said, sternly. "His life was football, school, and hanging out with his teammates. You know how teenage girls are with their drama."

Sam nodded her head as she exchanged a quick look with Danny. She wrote Liana's name in her notebook before asking, "If you could give us a list of his friends and a way to contact them that would be helpful."

"Sure, let me go grab my address book." Mrs. Owen stood up and exited the room.

Mr. Owen looked at Sam and Danny carefully before saying, "I'd like to offer a reward for any information that could lead to my son being found."

"Mr. Owen, I suggest you hold off for a bit of time." Sam said, "Offering money often creates more false leads than real ones. If you could just give us some time we would really appreciate it."

Mr. Owen started tapping his hand on the end of the sofa and Danny noticed that his hand had a fading bruise on it. Danny looked at him closely and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

Mr. Owen glanced at it and paused too long for Danny's liking before responding, "I hurt it boxing at the gym."

"I'd hate to see the other guy." Danny replied.

Before Mr. Owen could say anything, Mrs. Owen returned. "Here you go."

Sam took the list. "Thank you. We'd like to see Jeremy's room if that's okay."

"Why? My wife told you he didn't come home." Mr. Owen stood up and pointed out the window. "You should be out there looking for him."

Sam met his eyes and explained, "Mr. Owen, looking at someone's room is very helpful, it might help clue us in on any detours he might have taken or someone he may have known that he didn't tell his parent's about."

Mr. Owen, stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something when Mrs. Owen touched his forearm and said, "It's upstairs and to the left, end of the hall."

Sam and Danny stood and began to exit the room when Danny turned back and asked, "Mr. Owen, what's the name of your gym?"

"Downtown Definition," He replied as he folded his arms across his chest. "Why, are you trying to imply that I have something to do with my son's disappearance?"

"Like my partner said, we are just gathering as much information as possible. But if there is anything you are holding back on, now's the time to come clean." They both stood perfectly still and said nothing. Danny eyed them carefully before giving them a quick nod as he and Sam exited the sitting room. Walking up the stairs he turned to Sam and said, "They're hiding something."

Sam looked back the couple standing in the foyer talking closely and replied, "Yes, they are."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

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Viv and Jack walked down the crowded halls of Abbott Academy trying to avoid getting bumped by teenagers rushing to their classes. Viv glanced at a couple of teens making out at their locker and she couldn't help but think that Reggie was almost as old as those kids. Apparently she wasn't alone because Jack grunted as they passed the amorous youths.

"Thinking about Hanna and Kate?" Viv asked.

"Just thinking that maybe I should start looking into an all-girls high school in Chicago."

"I hate to break it to you Jack. But that," Viv pointed back to the teens, "is unavoidable."

Jack growled and said, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

Viv just gave him a knowing smile as she knocked on a door that read: Coach Lofton, Athletics.

"Come in." A gruff voice invited.

Opening the door and heading inside, Viv and Jack found Coach Frank Lofton. He was in his 50's, had a receding hairline, mustache and a paunch belly that he wore with pride. He looked the classic part of a high school football coach right down to the whistle hanging around his neck. The wall of his office was lined with trophies and framed photos from local newspapers sport sections. When Viv took a closer look, all the articles featured pictures of Lofton. Viv decided that it the person the coach was most concerned about was himself.

"Hi, you must be the agents here about Jeremy." Lofton stood up to shake hands. "Please sit down."

"What can you tell us about Jeremy?" Jack asked.

"He's one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen. He can run fast and his throwing arm is phenomenal." Lofton shared before waving to the trophies behind him. "He's lead us to the state championships for the last three years."

"Have you noticed anything unusual in his behavior lately?" Viv asked, with her notebook in her hand.

"Well, his game hasn't been as strong as it used to be. He's seemed kind of distracted." Coach Lofton leaned back in his chair. "This wasn't the first practice he missed lately. That's why I didn't think anything about him not showing up yesterday but we have homecoming in a few weeks and I needed him to get his act together. I thought if I called his parents they might put a bit more pressure on him."

"Pressure how?" Jack asked.

Lofton put his hands on his desk and said, "Just make sure he attended all his practices, get his head back in the game."

"Did you try talking to Jeremy?" Viv asked.

"I tried but he shrugged me off." Lofton began.

XXXX

_Lofton was sitting at his desk clutching a football. Jeremy was standing in front of him dressed in his uniform. _

"_What's going on Jeremy?" Lofton asked; his tone serious. "You've missed two practices and if you were any other player I'd bench you for it. Plus, you've been fouling up plays, when you're here you not really here, what's going on?" _

"_I've just had a lot on my mind. I'm sorry, I'll work on it." Jeremy replied._

_Lofton leaned forward on his desk and put the football down. "Is there anything I can help you with?"_

_Jeremy bit his lip and looked down but replied, "No."_

"_Is it girl troubles? Is this about Liana?"_

_Jeremy's expression fell as he replied, "Liana and I broke up."_

"_Well, I'm sorry to hear that but you know, there are lots of fish in the sea but this season is your last state championship." Lofton said. "Do you get what I'm saying?"_

_Jeremy paused, understanding what Lofton was really telling him and replied, "Yeah, I got it." _

XXXX

"He showed up for every practice for the next few weeks so I figured our little talk helped." Lofton commented, clearly satisfied that he did all he could.

"Do you know why he and Liana broke up?" Jack asked.

"You know how dramatic those high school romances are – it could be for any reason." Lofton airily replied.

"Yeah, I do." Viv smiled as she shared a look. Obviously this coach was more concerned with adding another trophy to his collection than the personal life of his players.

"Before we leave, is there anything else you think if worth mentioning?" Jack asked.

"Well, he did have a black eye." Lofton added; his voice mildly concerned. "He told me he got it while wrestling around with his buddies."

"Do you believe him?"

"Yeah, you know how rough boys can be." Lofton shrugged and smiled when the school bell rang. "I have to go teach. Are we done here?"

"Yeah, we're done." Jack replied watching Lofton gather up his clipboard and keys. "We'll need to talk to the rest of your players."

"If you can wait a few hours, the entire team will be here for practice at 3:00 p.m." Lofton replied as he grabbed the door handle to leave.

"We'll be there." Jack nodded that it was okay for Lofton to leave.

As Lofton exited he stopped and turned back to the agents and said, "I hope you find him."

Once he was gone, Viv turned to Jack and said, "I think he's more worried about losing his championship than about Jeremy."

Jack simply looked at Viv and nodded in agreement.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

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Jeremy Owen's bedroom was a shrine to testosterone and football. The spacious bedroom suite was filled with _NY Giants_ paraphernalia, sports equipment and sport trophies. From his flannel curtains to his corduroy bedspread the room didn't leave any doubt that the occupant of the room was of the 'Y' chromosome.

Sam wandered around the room looking for anything that might seem out of place or of the highly personal nature that might give an indication of what Jeremy Owen was all about.

"Whaddy'a wanna bet this is exactly what Martin's bedroom looked like when he was a kid." Danny joked as he sat at Jeremy's desk with James, the tech, scanning through his computer files.

Sam hummed her reply and walked up to the bookshelf. Scanning the titles she saw several books on sports legends along with ubiquitous novels like _Great Expectations, To Kill a Mockingbird, _and _Catcher in the Rye. _There were some larger books at the bottom of the bookshelf. Looking closer Sam saw they were books of maps of the world. Wondering if maybe Jeremy had a wandering spirit, Sam pulled one of them off the shelf and opened it up but rather than maps, out fell issues of _Playboy _and _Penthouse_.

"Hey, what do you have there?" Sam turned to find Danny smirking and walking to where she stood.

"Apparently it's Jeremy's version of light reading." Sam replied as she handed a few issues to Danny who didn't waste a moment perusing the magazines in typical male fashion. She noticed that Danny was glancing through them with a perplexed look on his face. "What? Are the women not to your liking?"

"No…" Danny began, "It's just….they're in pristine condition."

Sam shrugged and said, "Maybe Jeremy takes good care of his stuff."

Danny shook his head, "I don't care how neat a guy is, there is no way you can keep a girly mag looking this new unless you never looked at them."

"Well, maybe they are new." Sam flipped one of the magazines over and the issue she held was dated June 2004, more than a year old. "Then again, maybe not."

Danny knelt down in front of the bookcase and began going through the other books. In each book it was the same thing, but when he came to the final book out came some weathered issues of _Hustler_ and _Penthouse. _

"Maybe he just has his favorite issues?" Sam guessed.

Danny opened them up and flipped through them. He'd stop at certain pages that looked like they got the most attention and then continued on. "I think I may have discovered a little secret about our boy."

"What?"

"I think Jeremy might be gay."

"What do you mean? These are all men's magazines of nude women."

"Yeah, but all the centerfolds are shiny and new." Sam just looked at him and nodded, still unsure of what it meant. "Sam, centerfolds are the reason you buy these things. I can still tell you the name of my first centerfold was Phoebe Lewis. That's how important they are to young guys."

Sam raised an eyebrow and continued looking at him waiting to get an explanation. "Okay, good for you. I still don't get how you think he is gay?"

Danny huffed, "Okay, check out these magazines." Danny opened up an issue of _Penthouse_. "These pages, of these very hot women, are crisp and relatively new."

Sam nodded as Danny pointed out images of buxom brunettes and blondes, with heavy makeup and pouting lips attempting to be provocative in completely absurd settings.

"Now skipping ahead, here's another picture that, by the looks of it, Jeremy visited quite often." The image was of a brunette in a highly sexed up pose lying back as an undressed and 'at-attention' male hovered behind her. "Look, the edges are worn and even dog-eared it. See?"

Sam shook her head with frustration trying to comprehend what he was seeing that caused him to believe Jeremy was gay.

"C'mon Sam, what's the biggest difference between the images?"

Sam studying them before shaking her head and saying, "I don't see what the difference is."

Danny growled in frustration. "There's a guy! In each picture that Jeremy seemed to show interest in there's a guy in the picture."

"Oh. Maybe he just prefers seeing acts of sex rather than a woman just lying around in ridiculous poses. It doesn't mean he's gay."

Danny responded with a very loud audible sigh proclaiming, "Man, I wish Martin was here. He'd get it." Danny grabbed the magazines back from Sam and put them in the evidence box.

"I can't even imagine Martin looking at those." Sam said. While Martin was very talented in the bedroom he just didn't strike her as the kind of guy to find those kinds of magazines provocative. He was too clean cut. Sure, he made the 'sex tape' comment, and while it surprised her, deep down she knew that he'd never actually want to make one. It was a joke. Wasn't it?

Danny laughed and said, "He's a guy. I'll bet you twenty bucks he can still remember the name of his first centerfold."

"I'm not betting you." Sam responded curtly.

Danny leaned in towards her and said, "That's cuz you know I'm right."

Sam shrugged him off and turned her attention to James. "Any luck finding anything on his computer?"

James looked over at where they stood and said, "This kid's got all the very best firewalls up. It'd be easier if I could take this back to the tech lab."

Danny nodded his head and said, "Pack it up then. Something tells me that this kid has those firewalls up for a reason." He turned to Sam and said, "This family is just full of secrets."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

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Sam walked with Danny down the hall toward the bullpen. She sipped the iced mocha from Starbucks in her right hand while carrying an iced latte in her left; Martin's favorite. She was trying hard to focus on her highly caffeinated beverage and not Danny's incessant chatter about teen boys and nudie magazines. He had goaded her during the entire ride back to the office to get her to bet him that Martin would agree about Jeremy. Finally telling him to drop it, Sam walked into the bullpen where Martin sat at the conference table studying what looked like phone records.

She was happy to see Martin up and around after his bout with food poisoning last weekend. When he was feeling a little bit better she left him asleep in her bed while she ran over to his apartment to get him a change of clothes. Then they spent most of Sunday just hanging out in her apartment watching TV. Of course, after their little encounter on her sofa, she would have preferred that they spent the weekend doing something else, but just being with him was nice. She had made him promise to always tell her the truth no matter what and he happily agreed, as long as she promised to never cook for him again.

"Hey." She greeted him as she neared, waving the plastic cup with the green straw and label in the air.

He flashed a wide smile at her and happily reached out to accept the beverage. He took a long drink and moaned his gratitude. Sam laughed at how Martin could find pleasures in the simplest things. After taking another drink, Martin asked, "How'd it go at the Owens'?"

"Well, the parents are hiding something and Danny has come up with his own theory." Sam replied, tilting her head at Danny.

Danny plopped the box from Jeremy's bedroom on the conference table and was about to talk when Viv and Jack returned from their interview as well.

"Does this theory have anything to do with the black eye?" Jack asked.

"Jeremy had a black eye?" Sam asked.

"According to his coach," Viv replied, taking a seat next to Martin.

Danny and Sam exchanged looks when he said, "The father had a fading bruise on his hand. He said he got it at the gym but…."

Jack sat down and leaned back in his chair. "Did Owen strike you as the abusive type?"

"He's pretty aggressive and if my theory is correct," Danny turned and eyed Sam, "then Jeremy's little 'secret' might have something to do with it."

"Okay, what's the big theory, secret, whatever?" Martin asked.

Danny reached into the box and pulled out one of the magazines and tossed it to Martin. "We found a stack of these hidden in Jeremy's room. Look through that and tell me what you think."

Martin went wide eyed as he picked up the magazine and asked, "Um, why?"

"Maybe you'd prefer to look at it in the men's room?" Vivian snickered as Martin threw her an annoyed look.

"Just flip through the pages and tell me if you notice anything unusual." Danny remarked.

"Oh-kay." Martin replied. Sam noticed that he had everyone's eyes on him. He started flipping through the magazine when he stopped and turned to look at the cover and check the date. "This magazine is hardly……used."

Danny smiled smugly at Sam and questioned, "Anything else?"

Martin flipped back and forth through the pages before looking at Danny and saying, "Are all of the rest of the magazines like this?"

Danny nodded and glanced at Sam who was too busy eyeing Martin carefully. Martin looked back at the magazine and said, "So do you think this is why his dad freaked out and might have hit him?"

Danny laughed and smiled at Sam, who blew out a frustrated breath, but it was Viv who spoke up, "What are you guys talking about?"

Martin and Danny replied together, "He's gay."

"Okay, time out. Are you seriously telling me you agree with Mr. Centerfold over here?" Sam asked Martin in disbelief.

"Well, considering the condition of the magazines, Jeremy's age, the fact that the centerfolds are in perfect condition and the pictures he did look at….yeah." Martin looked at her matter-of-factly.

"Thank you, Martin." Danny replied. Sam didn't think it could be possible but he managed to look even more smug than usual as he told her, "Told ya."

Sam noticed that Jack, who was watching the exchange, reached over to take the periodical from Martin and quickly scanned through it. Curious, she asked, "Jack, what do you think?"

Jack looked up and shrugged, "I think it's a valid theory. "

"Great, next you guys are going to tell me you remember the name of your first centerfold too." Sam gave an annoyed sigh.

"Beth Mason – June 1975." Jack calmly replied.

"Starry Knight – Starry with two R's and Knight with a K." Martin smiled at the memory.

"Boys," Viv smilingly muttered, meeting eyes with Sam.

"Well it's good to see you still have a name to go with the image." Sam sarcastically commented.

"Hey, I remember everything about Starry." Martin replied pointedly.

"Oh, yeah like what?" She challenged.

"Well, for starters, thanks to her list of turn-offs: I don't smoke, I floss and I've never been cruel to puppies."

"She sounds so wise." Sam sarcastically replied.

"Hey, don't go knocking Starry. She only posed to earn money to go to Astronaut School." His lips twitched into a grin.

"'Astronaut School'? Please." She rolled her eyes as Martin laughed.

"Hey, Martin's right. Believe it or not but these women are very important to young men. Phoebe's turn-on's were men who spoke a second language, were clean shaven and had a great sense of humor." Danny waved his hand over himself and announced, "Wa-la."

Exasperated, Sam turned to her fellow female agent. "Viv, help me."

"Sorry, I can't, I'm too busy wondering if Reggie has one of those things now." She frowned, pointing to the box of magazines.

"That's why I don't want kids; there's always something." Sam commented while shaking her head. Smiling, she turned in time to see Martin quickly look away and lower his eyes.

Jack was anxious to change the subject and get back to the case, asked. "Martin, how's it going on the father's financials?"

Sam noticed that it took Martin a moment to answer, like he wasn't really listening. "Um, nothing so far, he's as clean as a whistle."

"What about Jeremy's cell phone records?" Jack asked as he tossed the magazine back into the box.

"Other than the fact that he seems to always be on his phone, four numbers come up quite a bit: Liana Cates, Steve Cates, Liana's twin brother, his home and a disposable cell number that I'm trying to track down. His last outgoing call was to this mystery friend."

"He has a mystery friend, huh?" Danny grinned over at Sam who met his gaze. "And the plot thickens."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

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The smell of fresh cut grass always reminded Sam of summers in Kenosha. She and her sister, Bridget, would lie on the prickly grass and stare up at the clouds wondering what their futures would hold. Bridget wanted to be a dancer on _Solid Gold_ while Sam didn't care what she did as long as she didn't have to live in a trailer in Kenosha. Looking up, Sam saw that today's sky was dark and gray; so much for searching for fun cloud formations.

Martin opened the gate to the football field and stepped aside so Sam could enter first. She gave him a quick 'thank you' and he gave her a small smile with thin lips. The entire drive up to the school he was quiet and pensive. She tried to get him to loosen up by joking about Danny and nudie magazines but he only replied in clipped, curt answers of 'yes' or 'no'. Giving up, she turned on the radio and decided to just let it drop. They would have to talk about what made his mood turn so sour but judging from past experience, she knew that getting into an argument in the middle of an investigation just made things worse. Trying to focus on the reason they were here, she looked over at the football players lined up for warm-up exercises.

Coach Lofton walked up to them. He was wearing a red baseball cap that read, 'Abbott Academy', "Are you the agents?"

"Yes, we're here to interview some of Jeremy's friends." Martin smiled and he extended his hand to shake with Lofton. "We'd like to start with Steve Cates."

"You got it." Lofton turned and yelled, "Cates! Get over here!"

Sam saw a tall, handsome young man with dark brown hair and big brown eyes jog towards them. Looking him over she knew that he was the kind of boy that made girls hearts swoon as they penciled his name into their notebooks. Then she wondered if he was also the kind of boy that made boys hearts swoon, too.

"Hi, are you the F.B.I.?" He asked.

Sam pulled out her badge and made the introductions. "I'm special agent Samantha Spade and this is special agent Martin Fitzgerald. We'd like to ask you a few questions about Jeremy."

"Sure, he's my best friend. Have you heard anything yet?" His eyes filled with concern.

Sam shook her head and asked, "What can you tell us about Jeremy?"

"He's a great guy. I've known him since first grade."

"Do you know if he was having any problems with his parents or school?" Sam asked as she flipped open her notebook.

"Nah, everything seemed fine."

"What about with his girlfriend, Liana? She's your twin sister right?"

"Yeah, well, they did break up but I think they were trying to work it out and get back together. They really loved each other." Steve replied earnestly.

"Really, then why did they break up?" Sam asked cynically.

Steve looked Sam over before replying, "You'd have to ask Liana that. She's over in the gym for cheerleading practice."

Sam gave him a weak smile and said, "When was the last time you saw Jeremy?"

"At the lockers in the hall the day he disappeared."

"Did anything seem out of the ordinary?" Sam asked, glancing at Martin who had yet to ask a single question.

"He was a little moody but nothing too strange." Steve shrugged.

XXXX

_The hallway was filled with students dawdling near their lockers. Three bulky boys were standing in the hall talking to Steve, who was leaning back against the row of lockers. Jeremy approached and he and Steve eyed each other carefully but they didn't speak. _

"_Hey, Jeremy, what's up?" One of the other players asked. _

_Jeremy didn't say anything he just shrugged and turned to Steve. "I gotta talk to you." _

"_So talk," Steve replied as he exuded the air that boys who consider themselves kings of high school can. "If this is about my sister, that's between the two of you." _

_Jeremy looked at the other boys who were listening intently. "Do you mind?" _

"_Hey, they can stay. I have nothing to hide do I?" Steve looked intensely at Jeremy._

_Steve and Jeremy exchanged glares but in the end Jeremy relented and slumped off saying, "Never mind." _

XXXX

"And then he disappeared." Steve finished.

"What do you think he wanted to talk to you about?" Sam asked.

"I think he wanted to talk about my sister but I don't know. I feel kinda guilty, like if I hadn't been joking around then maybe he would have told me."

Sam noticed that Martin was eyeing Steve's hands; he had small cuts and scrapes. Martin asked, "How'd you hurt your hand?"

"Practice," He looked at Martin and smiled. "You know how it is."

"Yeah," Martin smiled back. "Do you know how Jeremy got his black eye?"

Steve bit his lip before replying, "I hit him. I was mad at him for breaking my sister's heart but we worked it out." Again he looked at Martin. "You know how it is with us guys."

Martin just gave him a grin. Sam knew by Martin's smile that he didn't believe a word of what Steve was telling him.

"Can I go now? We have to break in a new quarterback." Steve asked, glancing between the two of them.

"Yeah, you can go." Martin replied. As Steve ran back to his teammates, Martin turned to Sam and said, "Let's go talk to Liana."

Sam nodded her head and the two of them headed for the gymnasium.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

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Liana Cates was an exceptionally beautiful girl, even for a cheerleader. She had long dark brown hair and big brown eyes. She was the feminine version of her twin brother Steve. She was in the middle of leading a cheer so Sam and Martin hung back to watch. When the cheer was done, they walked up to Liana, introduced themselves and then the three of them went to go sit on the bleachers.

"I understand that you and Jeremy recently broke up. Can you tell us why?" Martin asked.

Liana straightened her skirt and hesitated a moment. Sensing that Liana was uncomfortable talking in front of a guy, Sam turned to Martin and asked, "Martin, can you go to the car and get my palm pilot?"

Martin knew she didn't own a palm pilot but thankfully he got the message.

"Sure, be right back." Martin stood up and walked down the bleachers and out the gym.

"Sorry, it's just…" Liana trailed off.

"It's okay." Sam gave Liana a gentle smile and softly asked, "So what happened?"

Liana took a deep breath and said, "He told me that he cheated on me. That he was in love with someone else."

"Did he tell you who?"

"No." Liana replied firmly – a little too firm.

Sam nodded and gently asked, "Was there anyone you suspected?"

The young girl shook her head. "No."

Sam took a deep breath. She realized she would have to press the young girl to talk, "Liana, anything you know could really help us find Jeremy. If you know something, I promise it will stay between us." Sam's voice was soft and sincere.

Liana looked at Sam with wide eyes and started crying. Sam reached over and put her hand on her shoulder and let Liana cry for a little bit.

After a few minutes, Liana wiped the tears away and quietly said, "I still can't believe it."

XXXX

_Liana and Jeremy were sitting on the bench in her backyard. He sat on one end while she lounged next to him, kissing his face and biting his earlobe. Jeremy seemed disinterested and distracted. _

_Finally unable to take Jeremy's divided attention she asked him, "What's wrong?" _

"_Nothing," Jeremy replied while looking away._

"_Something must be wrong; you haven't paid any attention to me." She smiled gently and brushed the hair away from his face._

_He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from him. He turned and looked at her, studying her expression. _

"_What is it, J? You can tell me anything, I love you." Liana whispered. _

_He looked at her unsure but softly said, "I think we should break up."_

_Liana just looked at him devastated. "Break-up? Why?"_

"_You are so wonderful and I am just not what you need."_

"_I don't understand. Is there someone else?" Liana looked at Jeremy who simply remained quiet and looked down at his hands. "Who is she!" _

_Jeremy shook his head and replied, "It's not what you think." _

_Liana sat up straight and stared intently at Jeremy. "Who is she, Jeremy? Obviously she's important enough for you to dump me for her!"_

_Jeremy sat there for a few moments staring down at his lap when he softly whispered, "It's not a she. It's a he." Jeremy looked into her eyes and said, "Liana, I'm gay."_

"_What? But…no." She stuttered. "No, you can't be."_

"_I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you but I was so ashamed." Jeremy grabbed Liana's hand and held it tightly. _

_She just looked at him with sad eyes and leaned into his shoulder and cried. _

XXXX

"Once I stopped crying we talked about it. He told me that he always knew but tried to be normal, like his parents wanted, but he couldn't keep living a lie." Liana bent her index finger and tried to smooth away the mascara. "He wanted to come out to everyone he loved but was afraid that they would reject him. I told him I was hurt but I would always be his friend."

"Do you know if he told his parents?" Sam gently asked.

"He told me that it was going to tell his parents after me but then his father got into an argument with someone at the gym and suddenly he was afraid to tell them."

"Did he tell you why?"

"No, he just said he was afraid of his father's reaction."

Sam nodded in understanding but there was one more thing she needed to know, "Did he ever tell you the name of who he was seeing?"

Liana shook her head and replied, "I asked him several times but he would never tell me."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

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"Jeremy Owen is a regular here. We give him a free membership because of his 'star' factor." Cedric was Downtown Definition's daytime manager. He was a large, muscular over-tanned man with a shaved head.

"'Star factor'?" Viv asked.

"Yeah, because of his former football status and guest hosting on _ESPN _he his highly recognizable by men, which is a bulk of our clientele; having Jeremy come here to work out helps our reputation." Cedric commented as he placed clean towels on the counter as Viv and Jack followed him around the gym as he did his chores.

"I don't see any boxing rings or punching bags." Jack commented as he looked around.

"We aren't a boxing gym, we don't have those." Cedric casually replied as he wiped down a counter.

"Mr. Owen said that he hurt his hand here boxing. Do you have any idea why he would say that?" Viv asked.

"Boxing? No, although, he did get into an altercation with another member last week. It was the day he brought his son in with him."

XXXX

_Cedric was in the locker room picking up wet towels from the floor. He saw Jeremy sitting on the bench getting changed while Owen senior was at the other end of the locker room getting clean towels. Nate Cooley, another member walked up to Jeremy and said, "Hey Mark. I didn't know you came to this gym."_

_Jeremy looked really nervous and said, "I'm sorry you must have me confused with someone else." _

"_Mark, c'mon…it's me, Nate." Nate looked at him in disbelief. _

_Owen senior overheard the comment and walked up to stand between Nate and Jeremy. "His name's not Mark. You have him confused with someone else." _

_Nate quickly stepped back and said, "Oh, my mistake. Sorry." _

_He was going to walk away when Owen Sr. snidely said, "That's right; take your faggot recruiting someplace else."_

_Nate turned back to face Owen Sr. "Look, I said I was sorry. There's no need to be hostile." _

"_I'm just trying to protect my son from you homos. Stay away."_

_Nate clenched his jaw trying to argue back but he looked at Jeremy's cowering figure behind Owen Sr. and simply started to walk away when Owen Sr. shoved him and said, "That's right, run your little fag ass away." _

_Nate responded by stopping where he stood and saying, "Don't touch me." _

"_Dad, stop it." Jeremy pleaded but Owen Sr. just gave him a hard look and Jeremy was quiet._

"_What are you going to do about it gay boy?"_

_Nate started walking away again when Owen Sr. made to grab him from behind but Nate's reflexes were too fast and he grabbed Owen Sr.'s arm and punched one of his hands into a locker before subduing him by holding his arms in a locked position. _

_Owen Sr. tried to force his way out of the hold but Nate's arms weren't budging as he said, "Calm down." _

_Owen Sr. puffed for air for a few beats but said, "Okay, let me go." _

_Nate took a minute but released his hold on Owen Sr. and stepped back. _

XXXX

"And that was it. Nate went back into the gym and Jeremy took his son and left."

"Can we have Nate's address?" Jack asked.

"Actually he's just over there if you want to talk to him." Cedric pointed to a man running on a treadmill.

They walked over to him as Viv made the introductions, "Hello, we're agents Vivian Johnson and Jack Malone. We'd like to ask you a few questions about Jeremy Owen and his son, Jeremy Owen II."

Nate pressed the buttons on the panel and the treadmill slowed to a stop. "Yeah, I heard Jeremy was missing. How can I help you?" He stepped off the treadmill and wiped his forehead with a towel.

"I understand that you and Jeremy Owen Sr. had an altercation a week or so ago."

"Yeah, it was just a misunderstanding. I thought his son was someone else. We got it straightened out." Nate smoothly replied.

"According to a witness, you called him Mark. Who's Mark?" Jack asked.

Not meeting their eyes Nate replied, "He's an acquaintance."

Jack asked in a voice tinged with annoyance, "Does this 'acquaintance' have a last name?"

"Why? Like I said, it was a misunderstanding. He wasn't Mark." Nate replied, somewhat defensively.

"I'm just curious as to what this Mark person looks like that you would confuse him with Jeremy." Jack pressed, staring intently at Nate.

Nate looked back and forth between Jack and Viv before answering, "I don't know what Mark's last name is. I'd only met him once."

"He must have made quite an impression." Viv remarked.

Nate didn't respond but so Jack spoke up. "Let me tell you what I think: I think you know Jeremy as Mark. When his dad showed up you tried to cover up for him but things got a little heated. All I want to know is how you know Jeremy as Mark."

Nate looked Jack over carefully before responding, "I met him at a bar."

"Does this bar have a name?" Jack asked.

Nate bit his lip before replying, "Rick's Tiki Lounge."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

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Martin stared at his closet trying to decide what one would wear to a gay bar. After Jack talked to Nate Cooley he thought maybe it would be better to send Danny and Martin to talk to the men at Rick's Tiki Lounge in a more social setting. In other words, they were assigned to go undercover as a gay couple and get the guys to talk about how they knew Jeremy a.k.a. Mark.

Martin laughed at how self conscious he was about what he would wear to a gay bar; it wasn't like he was going to pick anyone up but he didn't want to be the out-of-place geek either. He wondered if those _Queer Eye_ guys made emergency home visits when his doorbell rang. He checked his watch and cursed that Danny was twenty minutes early to pick him up. He walked down the hall and swung open his door saying, "You're earl…." But instead of a lanky Latino there was a curvaceous blonde. "Sam. Hi. What are you doing here?"

Realizing how rude that sounded he gestured that it didn't come out the way he intended and thankfully Sam seemed to understand.

"I thought you might want some help selecting an outfit." Sam grinned. Martin knew she thought he always needed a bit more help in the fashion area and this time he was in no position to argue.

"Actually, I really could use some help." He waved her in and the two of them made their way to his bedroom.

Sam went straight to his closet and shoved a lot of his suits to the side and fished around in the back of the closet. Martin briefly wondered if she had already decided what outfit he was going to wear when he saw her frown as she searched. "What?"

Sam looked over at him and asked, "Where are your charcoal slacks?"

Martin smiled at her and replied, "I think they're still at your apartment."

"Oh, yeah," Their eyes met in understanding before Sam got back to the task at hand. "Okay, then…" She pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and a black v-neck cashmere sweater and handed them to Martin.

"Thanks." He took the clothes, walked into the bedroom and started changing, not caring that Sam was watching. She'd already seen everything anyway. He was standing up as he took off his work slacks and pulled on the jeans. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam sit down on the bed.

"You were pretty quiet during the ride to the school today." Sam looked at Martin as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Is there something I should know about?"

Martin had just finished buttoning up his jeans and picked up the sweater to put it on when he paused and looked down at the piece of clothing he held in his hands. He should have known there was another reason for Sam's visit. He knew he was being quiet and a little sulky this afternoon but he was unsure of how to broach the subject of the future. Actually, he wasn't so much unsure as he was afraid of what he would find out.

He could feel her eyes on him, waiting for a response.

Still not looking up, Martin began slowly and deliberately, "Do you remember the bus case? The conversation we had when we were staking out Bob Carrol?"

Sam responded softly, "I remember."

XXXX

"_Let me guess – 2.2, white picket fence, golden retriever." Sam quipped._

"_Yeah, maybe, something like that." Martin responded. _

"_Not for me. Not in this world."_

XXXX

When Sam spoke, her voice was almost a whisper. "So, this is about the comment I made in the office? You want to know if I've changed my mind about getting married and having kids."

Martin nodded slowly.

"Isn't it normally the woman who wants to have the big discussion about the future?" Sam chuckled.

Martin knew she was trying to bring some levity into the discussion but her words stung and he quickly looked up and gave her a steely glare. He saw her expression grow somber. Their eyes met in a silent standoff.

Sam licked her lips before she softly said, "Martin, I just can't see myself living that kind of life. Maybe you had a great childhood but I've seen how ugly it can get; the burden of obligations, the stress of worrying if they are safe or getting into trouble. You know our job and what we've seen parents go through, I don't want that."

Martin looked back down at the sweater, struggling to find his words, when the doorbell rang: Danny was here to pick him up. He quickly pulled the sweater over his head and said, "Now's not the time to have this discussion. I have to go." He stepped into his shoes and quickly strode out of the bedroom to the front door. He knew he was running away but he wasn't ready to deal with the consequences of Sam's answer and what it meant for them.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

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Martin was grateful that Danny arrived just in the nick of time. Sam had confirmed his fears about how she saw their future and now he had to decide whether having her in his life was worth sacrificing having a family of his own. But as much as Martin wasn't ready to deal with the inevitable talk with Sam, he really wasn't ready for what he found when he opened his door: Danny – in tight black leather pants.

"Hey, man, you ready to go?" Danny asked.

Martin gaped at Danny wearing a pair of pants that looked like they were spray painted on and a shiny red shirt with the top three buttons undone. Danny's outfit was so ridiculous that he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey, man, er…..nice clothes." Martin smirked.

Danny grinned and said, "I believe in pizzazz."

Martin nodded his head skeptically when he heard Sam come up behind him. He turned around in time see her reaction to Danny's attire as she commented, "Well, if it isn't the Belle of the Balls."

"Shut it. I'm just getting in character." Danny commented, narrowing his eyes at Sam.

Sam looked back over at Martin who suddenly remembered how much he wanted to get out of his apartment and get to work. He grabbed his keys and wallet as he ushered Sam and Danny out the door. As they walked down the hall he stole glances at Sam and noticed her doing the same. As they stood waiting for the elevator Martin stood on one side of Danny while Sam was on the other; they were all silent.

Martin tried focusing his gaze on the elevator doors but apparently Danny noticed the tension and asked, "Is everything alright?"

Martin glanced up and saw Sam eyeing him with lowered lids, leaving it up to him to respond. "Everything's fine."

Danny shifted his eyes between the two of them and thankfully decided to just let it drop. Martin knew that Danny was quite accustomed to walking into the middle of one of his and Sam's fights about their relationship. Some things never change.

XXXX

As Martin walked with Danny to Rick's Tiki Lounge the two of them tried to formulate their plan of action. Unfortunately, Martin found it very difficult to take Danny seriously when he was wearing that outfit.

"So, I think we act like we're together that way we can get information while avoiding getting hit on." Danny commented as he strutted down the sidewalk.

"If you were so concerned about getting hit on then why did you wear that outfit?" Martin chided as they reached their destination and got in line to enter the club. There were at least twenty or more people in line ahead of them and Martin worried that they might not get in.

Danny glanced down at his attire and said, "So you do think I look good."

Martin shook his head and laughed. He looked over at Danny and saw him shifting and adjusting his pants. Unable to resist making some sort of comment, he smirked and said, "Did you buy those special or have you just been waiting and praying for an excuse to wear them?"

Danny tossed him a dirty look and said, "You are just jealous because you don't have the kind of physique that can wear this outfit and look this good. Is it my fault I'm just a better looking man? Face the facts: I'm the beauty in this relationship."

Before Martin could open his mouth to respond two men walking past overheard Danny's comment and walked up to where they stood.

"Hey, you don't talk to your boyfriend like that." A tall brown haired man wearing black slacks and a wild looking shirt with a bright purple tie grabbed Martin by the arm and pulled him out of line. "Come with us, sweetie."

The other man, who wore a gray suit that would normally be conservative if it weren't for the hot pink scarf tied around his neck, followed behind Martin and his 'rescuer' before looking back at Danny to say, "Bitch."

They led Martin to the front of the line and the bouncer greeted the trio as he let them inside the velvet rope. "Hey, Paul, Mike. Who's the new guy?" He asked nodding at Martin.

"This is….what's your name, sweetie?" Paul asked with his arm still looped with Martin's.

"I'm Martin."

"Martin? Oh, no, that's too formal. I'm going to call you Marty. Chris, this is Marty. Marty, this is Chris." He shook Chris' hand while Paul continued, "And that man over there in the passé leather pants is Marty's partner. But we're mad at him so don't let him in for at least forty-five minutes."

They all looked over at Danny who was standing in line looking both stunned and annoyed.

"You got it." Chris replied as he motioned for them to enter the club. Martin stopped at the doorway and gave Danny a little wave and a big smile before disappearing into Rick's Tiki Lounge.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

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Rick's Tiki Lounge was decorated in what could only be described as tacky kitsch. The wall was lined with bamboo, Christmas lights, and palm fronds. The music was loud and the crowd was young, hip and entirely male. Martin followed behind Paul and Mike, bumping elbows with the loads of other people in the bar. At one point he felt someone grab his ass but when he turned around to find the culprit, six pairs of eyes looked back at him and smiled. So he decided to just find a place to sit as soon as possible and not get up again until he had to leave.

Paul and Mike led him to a booth smack dab in the middle of the bar marked 'Reserved' and the three sat down. From where they sat they could see everyone coming and going. Martin was very pleased that he managed to hook-up with two men who would obviously know a lot about the bars regulars; the perfect people to get information about Jeremy a.k.a. Mark.

A waiter dressed in a grass skirt and a coconut bikini walked up to table and gave quick kisses to men before looking over at Martin. "So, who's your friend?"

"This is Marty." Martin gave a small smile and waved hello. "He's boyfriend was being a beast tonight so we have temporarily liberated him so we can load him up with daiquiri's and convince him to leave, what's your man's name, Marty?"

It took Martin a moment to process the 'your man' line but he finally replied, "Um, Danny."

"I once dated a Danny. There must be something about that name because my Danny was a total critical control freak too." Paul sighed heavily before continuing, "So, Kiki, we need three daiquiris pronto. We have forty-five minutes to bring Marty to his senses."

"You got it." Kiki gave Martin a quick wink and disappeared into the crowd.

Paul and Mike started making comments about who was in the club tonight and what they were wearing and especially how they looked. Martin tried to line up the names with the comments in case they would have to line up potential suspects later.

Kiki returned with their drinks, complete with pineapple slices and little umbrellas. Martin took a drink and had to admit that while he was by no means a frozen fruity drink man, they were delicious. His face must have reflected that because Mike chimed in and said, "Aren't they to die for? Rick makes the best daiquiris in the world."

"They are the best I've ever had." Martin smiled as he took another drink.

Paul looked at Martin, put his elbows on the table, folded his hands into fists putting them under his chin and with a voice full of sympathy said, "So, Marty, talk to me."

"Um…" Martin murmured, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to say.

Mike and Paul glanced at one another before Mike spoke, "He means, tell us about you and Danny. How'd you meet, etc.?"

Martin smiled and took a long drink of his daiquiri. F.B.I. training teaches you how to deal with hostage situations and terrorists but not how to handle being interrogated about your fictional boyfriend. Martin's mind raced to come up with a story as he suddenly missed Danny's quick thinking. "Oh, you know how it is….you meet a guy and there's this instant attraction. You're friends for awhile and then one night everything changes." Martin paused as Paul and Mike continued looking at him with wide expectant eyes so he continued, "He makes a move and while you're worried about what it might do to the friendship, you risk it and it's great in the beginning; better than you ever could have expected. But then he starts to change, he's worried about people finding out about your relationship, like he's ashamed of what you have."

Mike gasped and said to Paul, "See, this is why I stopped dating men who are still in the closet."

Martin just nodded his head in agreement. "So you end up fighting all the time and you hate it. All you want is to not have to walk on eggshells all the time. To let people know how happy this other person makes you. Is that asking too much?" Mike and Paul shook their heads in agreement. "I certainly don't think so. So, you keep fighting and sh…he keeps pushing you away until finally you can't take it anymore and you just have to end it before you completely lose your mind!"

Martin couldn't believe he just spilled his guts to two complete strangers but it felt so good to say it out loud.

"Wow. That's a much better story than I was expecting." Paul turned to Mike and said, "You owe me twenty dollars."

Martin sat up straight and asked, "Excuse me?"

Paul turned to Martin and said, "I bet Mike here that you F.B.I. guys can come up with fabulous stories on the spur of the moment."

Martin shook his head, inwardly ticked off that he blew his cover so early in the night, and began, "What? I'm not…"

"Please sweetie, Nate called Rick to tell him all about you guys going down the gym and asking questions about Mark."

Mike interrupted, "He's name's Jeremy remember."

"Oh, yeah, my bad, I mean Jeremy." Paul must have seen Martin's expression fall because he leaned over and patted Martin's hand and added, "Don't worry sweetie. We figured that you guys would show up tonight to get information about what we know about Jeremy. It wasn't you, per se, that gave you away. I come here every night, I know all about how this place works. No newbies come on a Tuesday night. It's a night for regulars."

Martin, feeling a little bit better, took a long drink of his daiquiri and asked, "So, since you know why I'm here can you tell me what you know about Jeremy?"

"Absolutely, first let's order another round of daiquiris, I'll tell you everything I know and then," He smiled devilishly. "We can think of a way to mess with your partner when he finally gets in."

Martin smiled widely and toasted to that idea.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

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Twenty-four minutes left.

Danny was thinking about how he would get back at Martin for leaving him standing in line all alone at a gay bar. While his rational side understood that Martin was just doing what he did for the benefit of the case – making nice with regulars who could help them get information about Jeremy's secret life, his irrational side was super pissed off that Martin had abandoned him. He thought that if he were really in a relationship with Martin he would so dump his ass for what he did tonight.

Twenty-two minutes to go.

He was contemplating a new plot of revenge when Chris, the burly bouncer, shouted his name and waved him over. He walked up to the entrance and stood before Chris, who sized him over before unclipping the velvet rope and nodding for him to pass.

Thankful that Chris wasn't really going to make him wait for the full forty-five minutes, Danny entered and scanned the club looking for Martin. He spotted him sitting at a booth chatting with the two men from earlier. Taking a deep breath he walked over to the table and stood before the group.

"Well, has it been forty-five minutes already?" Paul asked.

"Hi, Danny," Martin said as Danny turned and eyed him, at least had the decency to have a guilty look in his eyes. "This is Paul and Mike."

Danny just nodded his head at them. They had intended to keep him waiting outside for almost an hour, gay, straight or whatever, any man would be in a foul mood because of it. Paul and Mike looked at him and smiled, since their eyes were on Danny, Martin mouthed "I'm sorry."

"So, am I allowed to sit or is there a waiting period for that too?" Danny growled.

"Please sit!" Paul said as Martin scooted down so Danny could slide into the booth alongside him. "I hope you're not too mad at us. We were just doing what we thought was in Marty's best interest. We're sorry." Kiki appeared with a daiquiri and placed it in front of Danny. "Here, let us buy all your drinks tonight as an apology."

Danny shifted his eyes between the two of them before reluctantly picking up the elaborate beverage. One long drink and a brain freeze later, Danny mumbled, "Thanks."

"So, Daniel, Marty told us everything." Paul leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at Danny. "We know all about your constant criticism, your control issues and about how you keep insisting on keeping your relationship a secret."

Mike huffed and grumbled under his breath.

"However," Paul added, "Marty also told us all about how you met and I think it is the most romantic story ever."

Danny just eyed him before turning to look at Martin questioningly. Martin was smiling as his eyes were pleading with him to just go along with the story.

"I think so too." Mike shared, sipping his drink and nodding at Danny.

He looked at them and smiled, "Thanks, well, you know, in spite of it all I'd still do anything for Marty." Since he was arriving late to the party, he was going to have to play catch-up.

"Yes, well, we have been sitting here talking about what we can do to bring you two crazy kids back together and rekindle the romance." Paul leaned over and put his head on Martin's shoulder. "This guy is a gem and I don't think you appreciate just how precious he is."

"Yes, you're right. He is precious." Danny replied through clenched teeth as he smiled and batted his eyelashes at Martin. He would most definitely have to pay Martin back.

"So, while we were talking we decided that Marty needs a grand gesture." Paul lifted his head up and looked at Martin who nodded in agreement. "We were thinking that maybe you could do what you used to do when you were trying to woo this big lug."

"Um, well, you know, that's definitely an idea I'll talk under consideration." Danny replied.

Paul and Mike turned to one another and shook their heads. "Daniel, that doesn't sound like a man who is serious about fixing his relationship. What do you think, Martin?"

Martin looked at them and then back at Danny with big, sad eyes and with a voice full of hurt he said, "No, it doesn't. Do you see what I deal with everyday?" Martin looked down and put his hands over his face and it sounded like he was muffling his cries.

Paul patted his shoulder and threw Danny a dirty look.

Damn it, Martin was really committing to this little scenario. He decided to just bite the bullet and said, "No, you're right." He grabbed Martin's hand and said, "Marty, please forgive me and I will make it like it was in the beginning."

Martin kept his hand over his face for a few beats before finally looking up and smiling at Danny and said, "Really?"

Danny groaned inside but he smiled and said, "Really."

"Fabulous! I think you should start tonight. Rick, set up the stage for Daniel here."

Danny whipped his head around to see Rick setting up a microphone on a small stage in the corner of the club. The crowd of clubbers started hooting and hollering while Danny felt a wave of panic.

"Um, why do we need a stage?" Danny asked.

"So, you can serenade Marty like you used to." Paul replied.

"Sere….serenade?" Danny stuttered.

"Yes, only now you will not just do it behind closed doors but right here in front of this whole crowd so they can know just how committed you are to making this work."

Fortunately, Martin spoke up and said, "Paul, I really don't think that's necessary. Danny has had almost no time to prepare. It's enough that he said he was willing to work on things." Danny was immediately grateful that Martin was not going to let this happen.

"Nonsense, Marty, there is no time like the present." Mike chimed in.

"Okay, you're right." Martin smiled and turned to Danny expectedly.

It was official: Martin Fitzgerald was a dead man.

"Oh, I don't even know which song to sing." Danny said, hoping to stall.

Mike spoke up, "I think you should sing the very first song you sang to him."

"Yes, I agree." Mike murmured while smiling widely at Danny.

"No, I think Danny should sing whatever song he likes." Martin interjected.

"Marty, he asked. Besides, it would be so romantic if he sang 'Can't Help Falling in Love'." Paul adamantly said.

Rick spoke into the microphone and said, "Attention! We are going to start the karaoke a little early tonight since we have a special guest singer, Danniel, who would like to serenade his love, Marty." Rick pointed directly at their table.

All the eyes in the club turned to focus right on Danny and it was then that he decided that when he took his revenge on Martin it was going to have to be slow and painful.

"Oh, he's shy." Rick commented. "Let's all give him a big round of applause and see if we can get this cutie up on stage! C'mon!"

The entire club started applauding and a spotlight landed right on Danny. Shit. He smiled nervously as a couple of men came up to the booth and dragged him out of the booth and pushed him onstage. Double shit.

Danny scanned the room looking for the nearest exit when the familiar tune of the Elvis hit started playing. Knowing that he was now committed to singing, Danny hesitated before stepping up to the microphone and began, "Wise men say….only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you. Shall I stay? Would it be a sin? I can't help falling in love with you."

The crowd started swaying to the music and Danny suddenly felt like Elvis himself – a total rock star. "Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes….Some things are meant to be."

The crowd shouted out words of praise and well as hoots and hollers. Encouraged, Danny found himself really getting into the song. "Take my hand….take my whole life too…for I can't help falling in love with you. Like a river flows surely to the sea….darling so it goes…Some things are meant to be…take my hand, take my whole life too…For I can't help falling in love with you."

When he was done the entire club burst into applause and Danny took a bow. Slowly, the crowd started chanting, "Encore! Encore!"

Danny grinned from ear to ear and hurried and told Rick which song to put on next. He came back on stage and started singing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', "If you need me, call me. No matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name. I'll be there in a hurry…."

Danny looked out into the crowd and saw Martin, Paul, and Mike laughing hysterically. It was then he knew he'd been duped but he was having such a great time he suddenly didn't care.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

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Martin should have known better than to try and trick a natural born trickster. Leave it Danny to find pleasure in doing something he himself would find mortifying. Danny finished his seventh song and the audience gave him a thundering ovation. He gave a bow, threw up his fingers in peace and walked, scratch that, sauntered off the stage. As he headed back to the booth men patted him on the back and stopped him to say what a great job he did. When he finally sat down he had a big grin on his face and looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Well, that totally backfired." Martin commented. "I didn't even know you could sing."

"I'm Cuban; music is in my blood. I was born to groove." Danny smiled, all sweaty from his performance. He took a long drink of his now watery daiquiri.

"Damn, you fibbies are good." Paul smiled mischievously at Danny who had a surprised look in his eyes.

"They knew." Martin said before Danny had a chance to jump to any conclusions. "Apparently Nate called up Rick beforehand and told him the F.B.I. was asking questions. And since Tuesday is a night when the regulars come they put two and two together."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me you guys knew I was F.B.I. all along but you still made me wait outside, made me endure that little relationship talk, force me to go up on stage and serenade Martin? And you," Danny pointed at Mike. "You called me a bitch." Danny glared at the three men who nodded at him guiltily before he leaned back, smiled and said, "Damn that was a good joke."

Martin chuckled as he took another drink deciding they had enough fun and needed to get back to the case. "So, Danny, now that you are through trying to romance me, Paul gave me some good information about Jeremy. Apparently Jeremy has been coming here close to six months. He was using a fake I.D. under the name Mark Piper."

"Mark…sorry, Jeremy, was a sweet boy, if a bit naïve." Paul sighed. "I think he was just struggling to find his way in the world and this place made him feel like he wasn't alone."

Danny nodded before turning to Martin and asking, "Did you find out who his mystery guy is?"

"Well, Paul thinks it might be an Adam Weller. Apparently, he and Jeremy hooked up on a few occasion and they haven't seen Adam or Jeremy here for over three weeks."

"Do you know where we can find Adam?" Danny asked.

"No, I didn't know much about him other than he was a troubled young man who seemed to find a lot of comfort in a bottle." Paul turned and eyed Martin who had told them about Danny's membership in AA because they were planning on having a daiquiri ready when they told Chris to let him in. "He had a lot of self-hate if you want my opinion. For some men coming to terms with their homosexuality is very difficult if you don't have a good support system."

Mike contributed, "Word around the lounge is that Adam's parents disowned him when he came out. Well, he didn't so much 'come out' as get caught in the act by his very conservative Christian father." He sighed and continued, "It seems that his father's reaction was to beat the living daylights out of Adam. He broke Adam's nose and jaw, a couple of ribs and his arm in two places."

Martin took a moment to process that information. If Jeremy's friend had a traumatic experience with his coming-out then it was possible that fed on Jeremy's own fears; particularly with his father's outburst at the gym. He looked over at Danny who, based on his expression, had the same thought.

"Is there anything else?" Danny asked.

"Why don't you tell Danny what you told me about the last time you saw them both here." Martin asked Paul.

"Sure. It was about three weeks ago." Paul began….

XXXX

_The bar was jam packed; everyone was having a merry time. Paul was laughing with a group of men before breaking away and walking over to the bar to talk to Rick. Rick was on the other end of the bar taking an order so he leaned against the counter to wait. Sitting on stools next to him were Adam and Jeremy/Mark talking._

"_I think you've had enough to drink, Adam." Jeremy said, trying to pull the glass away._

"_I'm fine. What do you care? You said you don't want to be with me anymore!" Adam laughed mirthlessly as he grabbed the glass back and took another drink. _

"_It doesn't mean I don't care what happens to you." Jeremy implored as he caressed Adam's hair. _

"_Screw you. Why don't you just leave! Leave me like everyone else!" Adam shoved him causing Jeremy to spill his drink on himself as well as on the bar. He stormed off while Jeremy tried to wipe the drink off of his clothes. Jeremy met Paul's eyes before he chased after Adam. _

XXXX

"And you haven't seen either one of them since?" Danny asked.

"No." Paul replied. "I have to admit, I had hoped that the two of them ran off together to start a new life but that's the hopeless romantic in me." Paul's face softened as he gently asked, "Promise me that when you find out what happened to Jeremy you'll come back and tell us."

"Of course, we will." Martin promised. He looked over at Danny and thought that they need to find this Adam Weller. He might be the key to Jeremy's disappearance.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

XXXXXXX

Martin stood at the counter stirring cream into his coffee. He let out a small yawn when Sam walked up next to him and softly asked, "Restless night?"

He turned to face her and it looked like she got as little sleep as he did. Martin decided to put on a brave face and smirked, "You know how it is out clubbing with the boyfriend. It's just party, party, party."

Sam gave him a lopsided smile and nodded her head. "So, when are we going to finish our discussion? I was hoping you would call me when you got home last night."

"Sorry, I was tired. We got home pretty late." Martin replied. The truth was he was home before 11:00 p.m. but he spent the entire night contemplating what he was going to do about Sam. The idea of not being with her tore him up inside but the thought of never having a family was just as gut wrenching. So he decided to just avoid having to make a decision for another day.

She looked at him disbelieving. "Okay, maybe later then."

"Yes, later." Martin looked at her and their eyes gazed unsure at one another until Martin couldn't take it anymore and said, "I better get back to work and try to track down a lead."

Sam cleared her throat and asked, "What lead?"

Martin filled her in on what he learned at Rick's Tiki Lounge the night before as they walked together back to the bullpen when they heard Viv yelp.

"I found him!" Viv announced from her desk. "Adam Weller checked into Somerset Meadows Rehab Facility the Monday morning Jeremy disappeared."

"That's the same day Jeremy disappeared." Danny commented from his desk.

"It gets better: the treatment was paid for on Jeremy Owen's credit card." Viv looked up and met the boy's eyes. "Apparently the center took their sweet time processing the card."

"Really, so Jeremy is Adam's sugar daddy?" Danny asked.

"It appears so." Viv replied.

"But if they were broken up why would he agree to pay for his treatment?" Sam asked.

"Maybe he felt guilty." Martin guessed.

"Well, what do you say we just go ask him?" Viv asked, smiling.

XXXX

Martin and Viv walked down the hall of Somerset Meadows Rehab Center. The walls were painted soft hues of blue. Martin guessed that blue was supposed to be a soothing color. They approached the check-in station and flashed their badges.

"We'd like to see Adam Weller. We understand he's an in-patient here." Viv said in that calm motherly tone she often used.

The nurse eyed them suspiciously before saying, "I'll need to check with the director first. You can wait over there." She pointed to a row of plastic chairs lined up against the wall.

Martin and Viv nodded and walked over to sit down. While they were sitting, Martin looked over at Viv. He realized that he never asked her how she was doing, he was so caught up in his own drama that he forgot she had plenty of her own as well. Cursing his selfishness he turned to Viv and softly said, "How are you doing, Viv?"

"Good." She replied casually.

"No, I mean, how are you doing? You know: health wise." Martin said tenderly.

Viv turned and eyed him carefully. He kept his eyes focused on her as her features softened and she replied, "I'm good, better. There are good days and bad days." He suddenly felt very sad for her and she must have sensed it because she smiled at him and said, "Don't worry; a majority of the days are really good. I just have to keep checking in with the doctor but so far it looks like the procedure was a success."

Martin nodded in understanding. "How are Marcus and Reggie?"

"They're great. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. You know how it is after a major health crisis: you really learn to appreciate the simple stuff in life. And those guys remind me what really matters."

Martin gave her a sad smile knowing she was right.

"Hello." Martin and Viv turned to find a forty-something balding man approach. They both stood up. "I'm Dr. Nolan."

"Hello, I'm special agent Martin Fitzgerald and this is special agent Vivian Johnson. We understand that you have a patient by the name of Adam Weller. We need to talk to him about a missing person."

"This is highly unusual and I will have to check with Adam to see if he wants to talk to you. Can you tell me what his relationship is to the missing person?"

"How is that relevant?" Vivian asked.

"Well, I just want to know how to prepare him. He's in a very fragile state right now. He's only just come out of the initial stages of detox. I just worry that if it is someone he is really close to that it could cause a serious setback."

"The missing person is Jeremy Owen. He was a close personal friend of Adam's. In fact, he is the one paying for Adam's treatment." Martin supplied.

"In that case, I'd prefer to be there when you talk to Adam if that's okay." Dr. Nolan said.

Viv spoke up, "If it's okay with Adam."

Dr. Nolan nodded his head and motioned for the agents to follow.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

XXXXXXX

Jack and Sam waited in the foyer while the housekeeper went to go fetch the Owens'. He took a moment to survey the house, to try and get a sense of who the Owens' were. The house was expensive, impeccably decorated and impossibly perfect. Jack wondered if Jeremy felt that he could never be the perfect son for the perfect life his parents had planned out for him.

Jack turned and looked at Sam who seemed preoccupied and staring off into space. She was quiet most of the ride up and he had to force himself to not ask what was troubling her. If it was something about her and Martin he'd just as soon not know. While he knew that he and Sam were still friends the last thing he wanted to be was someone she could cry to about Martin. That would hurt too much.

He heard footsteps heading their way and turned to find Owen Sr. and Susan walking towards them with concerned expressions on their faces.

"Have you heard anything?" Susan asked in a distressed voice.

"No, I'm sorry." Jack said while shaking his head. "I'd like to ask you some follow-up questions about Jeremy."

Jack noticed that the Owens' eyed him and Sam nervously before finally nodding their heads and heading into the sitting room. They took a seat on the sofa, Sam sat down on the chair but he decided to remain standing.

"Mr. Owen, how would you describe your relationship to Jeremy?" Jack asked in a noncommittal tone.

"I'm his father. That's my relationship."

"I mean, are the two of your close? Would he confide in you?"

"I don't understand what you are getting at."

Jack saw that they were not about to divulge any potentially scandalous information on their own so he decided to just lay all his cards on the table. "Did either of you know that your son, Jeremy, is gay?"

Jack saw Susan's eyes dart from him to her husband. Owen Sr. met Susan's eyes and gently reached out to hold her hand. He turned and looked back over at Jack. "Yes, we know."

"How did you find out?" Sam softly asked.

This time it was Susan who spoke up, "He told us the morning he disappeared."

XXXX

_Owen Sr. and Susan are standing at one end of the kitchen while Jeremy stood across from them behind the counter. _

"_What do you mean you're gay?" Owen Sr. demanded._

"_Exactly what I said, I'm gay dad. I'm sorry, I know you are disappointed but I am tired of pretending to be someone I'm not." Jeremy's voice cracking as he spoke. _

_Susan didn't say a word, she just leaned back against the sink and sobbed. Owen Sr. paced the kitchen thinking. _

"_No." Owen Sr. finally said._

"_What do you mean 'No'?" Jeremy asked. _

"_No, you can't be gay. Stop it. No son of mine is going to be some freak queer. Do you have any idea what this does to our plans? Fags don't play in the NFL!" Owen Sr. shouted with a voice filled with rage. "You're going to throw everything we worked for away? What about all our plans?" _

"_Those are your plans – not mine." Jeremy replied defensively. _

"_You are throwing your entire life down the drain for a life of ridicule!" Owen Sr. shouted. _

"_It's my life!" _

"_Not yet it isn't. Not as long as you live under my roof and use my money you will do as I say. And I say you forget this foolishness and go to school!" Owen Sr. threw his coffee mug on the floor causing it to shatter and stormed out of the room. _

"_Mom…" Jeremy began but Susan just kept crying as she knelt down to pick up the broken mug pieces. "Mom, look at me." Susan continued cleaning up and did not once look up, even when Jeremy left the room. _

XXXX

Jack nodded his head annoyed, "It would have been helpful if you had told us that from the beginning."

"Why would I want anyone to know that about my son?" Owen Sr. argued. "To have people know that my only son would choose that kind of life over the one he has."

Jack softly said, "I'm sure Jeremy would tell you that it's not a choice. It's just who he is."

Owen Sr. looked up at Sam and Jack with sad eyes and nodded.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

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Viv, Martin, Dr. Nolan and Adam were seated in a circle on plush chairs. Martin guessed were set up that way for therapy sessions. On the coffee table were ashtrays and boxes of Kleenex. Martin glanced around the room. On one wall there were colorful small paintings posted under a sign that read 'SELF PORTRAITS.' The figures in the paintings were all so very different. Some were hideously disfigured, others were small and so faint they were difficult to see. They reminded Martin of the picture his niece painted of him and he suddenly felt a connection with people working their way out of a dark place in their life. His heart went out to these people he never even met but felt an incredible connection to because of some tempera paint on white sheets of paper.

Martin looked back over at Adam Weller, a lanky young man with curly brown hair and pale skin. He had been quiet for the last few minutes since they told him that Jeremy was missing. He just sat there rocking slowly and taking long drags of his cigarette; silent tears streaming down his face.

"I can't believe he's missing. I talked to him the day I came here." Adam finally said in a voice that was soft and cracked. "I can't believe it."

"Adam, can you tell us what you and Jeremy talked about that day?" Viv asked, handing a box of tissues to Adam.

Adam smiled in gratitude and plucked a few tissues from the box. He blew his nose and wiped the tears off of his face.

"I was on my way here." Adam began…

XXXX

_Adam was in a taxi, his eyes darting around nervously. He took a long drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke out the window when his cell phone rang. He fished it out of his jacket pocket and pressed the 'Talk' button. _

"_Hi, Mark, sorry, I mean Jeremy." Adam said into the phone. "Sorry, I still can't get used your new name. Where are you? I've been calling you all morning." _

_Jeremy was sitting on some bleachers at the school. "I'm at school. I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer your calls earlier. I was in class. How are you doing?"_

"_I'm freaking out. I don't know if I can do this." Adam's voice was full of fear as he leaned his head back. _

"_You can do this. I believe in you." Jeremy encouraged. "And I'll be there first thing on Sunday to visit you." _

"_Are you going to bring your boyfriend?" Adam hissed. _

"_No. Be nice Adam, please. I've had a really hard day." Jeremy's voice broke and he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. _

"_Jeremy, what's wrong?" Adam listened as Jeremy broke down. _

"_I told my parents this morning." Jeremy said in a soft, scared voice._

"_How did they take it?" Adam asked his voice full of concern._

"_Not good. My mom just cried but my dad….he was just so angry."_

"_He didn't hit you did he?" Adam asked panicked. _

_Jeremy gave a forced laugh and replied, "No, he just told me to stop it. He said, 'No son of his was going to be a queer. There are no fags in the NFL.' Then he told me to go to school and forget about this nonsense. Like I just woke up this morning and decided to be gay."_

"_What are you going to do?" _

"_I don't know. I just know I don't want to go home." Jeremy sounded determined. _

"_What about your boyfriend? Can you stay with him?" _

"_I don't know. That situation is complicated." _

"_You can go stay at my place; my roommates went to Fire Island for the week. The key is under the flower pot." Adam offered. _

"_Thanks, I might do that. I better go; it's almost time for practice. Love you." _

_Adam smiled and said, "Love you, too. See you Sunday." _

XXXX

"And that was it." Adam whispered.

"We're going to need your address." Martin requested as he handed some paper and a pen to Adam. Adam wrote down the address and handed it back.

"You have to find him. He's the closest thing to family I have. I'll be lost without him." Adam pleaded.

Martin remained silent but gave Adam a look of sympathy.

"Adam, did Jeremy ever tell you the name of his boyfriend?" Viv asked.

"No, he tried but I didn't want to know, knowing would make it too real."

"Did he tell you anything about him?" Viv asked.

Adam took another drag of his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke, "All I know is that he went to school with him, he was another football player."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

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Steve Cates sat at the table in the interview flipping the aluminum tab on his Coke can back and forth as he glanced around the room before turning his focus to the door; waiting. He was still in his school uniform but his tie was loosened and his shirttails un-tucked.

"He looks nervous." Sam commented from the other side of the one-way mirror.

"Everyone looks nervous in an interview room." Viv said as she tilted her head to study Steve.

After Martin and Viv interviewed Adam they went to his apartment but there was no sign that Jeremy had ever made it there. The key was still exactly where Adam said it would be. The entire team was watching Steve and wondered if he was the key to Jeremy's whereabouts.

"Danny, come with me, let's go see if Steve has any reason to be nervous." Jack said as he patted Danny on the shoulder for him to follow.

"Don't we have to wait for his parents?" Danny asked.

"Don't have to, he turned eighteen two weeks ago." Jack smiled as he reached for the doorknob. Martin stepped aside so Danny could pass before returning to stand alongside Viv and Sam. They watched as Danny and Jack entered the interview room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Jack said, his voice sounding cool and unconcerned. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about Jeremy Owen."

"I already told everything I knew to your other agents, Ken and Barbie." Steve smiled confidently.

Martin groaned at Steve referring to him and Sam as the Mattel dolls. He knew that Danny would never let him live that one down. He glanced at Sam who gave him a sympathetic smile as Viv chuckled.

Meanwhile, Danny's lips threatened to twitch into a grin at the comment but he managed to avoid letting on that he found it amusing. Instead he leaned back in his chair and said, "Well we'd like to ask you a few more. For starters, how long were you and Jeremy seeing each other?"

Steve gave them a perplexed look and said, "Well, we've been best friends since grade school if that's what you mean."

Jack leaned forward and said, "So you're saying that the two you were not romantically involved?"

"No, no way." Steve adamantly replied before he began to laugh nervously.

Danny glanced over at Jack who said, "Well, that's interesting because according to another friend of Jeremy's he said he was seeing someone at school who happened to be a football player."

"Well, it's not me." Steve protested.

"Since it's _not_ you and you _are _his best friend, can you tell us who it could be?" Jack pushed, giving Steve a little smirk in the process.

"No." Steve answered as little beads of sweat appeared on his upper lip.

"But you did know he's homosexual right?" Danny asked smiling.

Steve shook his head and replied, "No, I had no idea."

"Hmm…because when we asked if you were romantically involved you didn't seem shocked or even surprised." Jack commented as he clicked a pen in his right hand. "And I know if I just found out my best friend since grade school was gay I'd be shocked."

Jack stared Steve down for a few beats as the young man's eyes darted between the two agents.

"You don't have a response?" Danny asked, tilting his head to get a better look at Steve's expression.

They stared at a silent Steve for a moment before Danny began, "You're awfully quiet Steve. Is it because you've been exposed? That now everyone will know that you and Jeremy were more than friends? That you were actually lovers." Steve's jaw clenched and his nostrils flared as anger began to rise up inside of him. "It's a big deal isn't it? I mean, Jeremy's the quarterback, you're the center. That's an awfully personal relationship, particularly for two gay men. And then there's the relationship Jeremy had with Liana; your twin sister. I understand she looks a lot like you."

"Shut up!" Steve shouted as he kicked his chair back and stood up at the table. "Shut up! I'm not gay!"

Danny stood up to meet Steve's gaze as he leaned across the table and firmly said, "Did you get this angry with Jeremy when he said he was going to tell everyone he was gay? That he was going to expose you both?"

"He should have shut up! I warned him, I told him I wasn't gay! That we were just messing around but he had to ruin everything!" Steve argued as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Danny's voice lowered and her sternly said, "You seem pretty emotional, Steve. Did things get this heated when Jeremy told you his plan to come out of the closet?"

"I….I didn't mean to do it but he wouldn't listen. He was being selfish. He didn't care what he was going to do to me, too!" Steve cried.

Jack calmly spoke up and said, "Then tell us what happened."

Steve looked at Jack and fell back into his chair, "It was an accident. I didn't mean to…."

"I know you didn't, just tell us what happened." Jack gently urged.

Steve looked down at the table and said, "I saw him right before practice. He left a note in my locker to meet him in the storage room."

XXXX

_Steve entered the storage room where all the different sports equipment was located. Along the walls were volleyball nets, wrestling mats, weights, basketballs, baseball bats and other sports paraphernalia. He looked around before closing the door behind him._

"_Jeremy, are you in here?" Steve asked into the darkened room._

"_Yeah, I'm here." Jeremy said stepping out from behind a shelf. He looked tired and worried. _

"_What did you want to talk to me about?" Steve asked gruffly. _

_Jeremy took a few steps forward and said, "I told my parents this morning."_

"_You what? What did you tell them?" Steve walked briskly to meet Jeremy where he stood. _

"_I told them I was gay."_

"_Why in the hell would you tell them that?" Steve's voice was low and anxious. _

"_I'm tired of pretending. I want to be able to be open about who I am, I've seen what trying to be something your not can do to you." Jeremy said softly. _

"_Well, what are people going to think? They know were best friends, they know we spend lots of time together. They're going to think I'm a fag too." Steve seethed. _

_Jeremy looked hurt and said, "Who cares what they think? Besides, maybe you need to start accepting who you are too." _

"_Shut up! I know who I am." Steve argued. "Besides, I told you, what we do is our business, not anyone else's. So you better shut up and go tell your parents that you were joking, that you take it back." _

"_What? No, that's crazy. Besides, I'm not going home."_

"_Yes you are. You will go back to the way things were before." Steve insisted as he began pacing the length of the small storage room like a feral cat. _

"_What are you going to do? Hit me again? Give me another black eye?" Jeremy asked defiantly. _

"_I told you that I was sorry about that. It's just sometimes you make me so mad when you get off on one of your 'free to be you and me' rants. Why can't you just be happy with the way things are?" Steve asked as he whacked some basketballs off one of the shelves. _

"_No matter what you do I'm not going home again. I wasn't happy with the way things were before." Jeremy stood firm, he was getting upset and his voice raised a few octaves. "I think if you would just admit who you are maybe you would lose all that anger you keep bottling up or taking out on me. Just admit that you are a gay, a fag, a queer."_

_Steve shot Jeremy a look of pure anger and shoved Jeremy back as he shouted, "SHUT UP!" Jeremy, surprised by the force of the shove, fell back and hit the back of his head on the corner of a metal shelf before falling to the floor. Steve looked at Jeremy, who was lying perfectly still. _

_Steve, shocked by what he did, immediately knelt down next to Jeremy's lifeless body whispering, "Jeremy?" _

XXXX

"I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident." Steve said with a quivering voice. "I'm so sorry." Then he began to sob.

Jack gave him a moment before he gently asked, "Where is Jeremy, Steve?"

Steve looked up at Jack, his eyes swimming with tears and said, "In the woods behind the school."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

XXXXXXX

There was a chill in the air and Martin pulled his jacket closer around him, hunching his shoulders as he walked with Danny to Rick's Tiki Lounge. After they got Steve to confess what had happened to Jeremy Owen, he led them directly to where he had buried Jeremy's body. Sam and Jack were the unlucky ones who had to go inform the Owen's that their only son, the one they rejected the last morning they saw him, was killed because he was just trying to be true to who he was.

Trying to be true to their own word, Martin and Danny were on their way to Rick's Tiki Lounge to tell Paul and Mike what happened to their friend.

They stopped a crosswalk and waited for the light to change. Danny huffed and said, "Damn, it must officially be autumn because it is getting cold."

"Tell me about it." Martin grinned in agreement. "Walking probably wasn't the best idea."

"Maybe we should have asked your girlfriend if we could borrow her pink corvette." Danny laughed out loud while Martin groaned and looked up at the sky.

He looked back over at Danny and said, "I was wondering when the Ken and Barbie jokes were going to start."

Danny just laughed as the light changed and the two men crossed the busy city street. "Get used to it. I don't foresee them going away anytime soon."

Martin threw him an annoyed glance.

They walked for bit when Danny cleared his throat and asked, "So, what's going on with you and Sam? I can literally feel the tension when the two of you are in the same room."

Martin just shook his head and sighed. He wasn't sure how much to tell Danny when he still wasn't sure what he was going to do. "We're just trying to figure some things out."

"Hey, if you love her it shouldn't be that hard." Danny happily supplied.

Martin sighed and replied, "You're right, it shouldn't."

"Can I ask what you guys are trying to figure out? Can I help?" Danny asked.

"It's complicated and it's definitely something that I have to figure out on my own. But thanks for offering." Martin replied gratefully.

"Okay but if you ever need to talk…you know." Danny said as Martin nodded.

They reached the bar, its sign in bright neon reading 'RICK'S TIKI LOUNGE' with a flashing palm tree. Both Danny and Martin took deep breaths and walked up to the lounge to give Paul and Mike the bad news.

XXXX

"Did he suffer?" Paul asked as he wiped the tears away from his face.

"No, he died instantaneously. He didn't feel a thing." Martin softly said. He and Danny filled the two of them in on all of the details: Jeremy's girlfriend, his parent's reaction to his coming out, Adam's rehab and finally, his death at the hands of his supposed boyfriend.

"Well that's something at least." Paul held Mike hand tightly before turning to look back at the agents. "Have you told Adam?"

"No. Not yet." Martin replied. The truth was Martin was worried about what the news would do to Adam and his rehabilitation.

"Can we be the one's to tell him?" Paul asked delicately. "I think the news should come from someone who can relate to him and especially the circumstances."

The two men glanced at one another when Martin spoke up, "I think that would be a really good idea."

"Thank you." Paul replied as he turned to Mike and said, "This boy is going to need us and I can't help but feel that this whole situation was put upon us for a reason. And if Jeremy's dad decides to not pay for Adam's treatment since it was on his son's credit card I think we should pick up the bill."

Mike's face got hard for a moment before he smiled and softly said, "Well, we've always talked about adopting a son. At least at twenty-two he's potty trained."

Paul gave a light laugh before leaning over and kissing Mike tenderly.

Martin studied the two men and felt his heart swell at the easy affection and understanding the two men had with each other. Martin excused himself and walked to the rear of the bar, pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Hey, it's me. Can I come over?"


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

XXXXXXX

Sam tugged her blouse loose from her trousers and unbuttoned it, letting it fall to the floor uncaring. She moved to unfasten the clasp on her trousers when her cell phone rang. She sighed heavily and walked over to her nightstand and without bothering to check the caller I.D. she hit the 'Talk' button and answered, "Spade."

The first sound she registered was loud music and glasses clinking before the familiar voice responded, "Hi, it's me. Can I come over?"

Sam hesitated for a beat, before softly answering, "Yes."

"I'll be there in half-an-hour." Martin simply said before ending the call.

Sam pressed the 'End' button on her phone and tossed it onto the bed. She had been anxious to talk to Martin but after the night she had she wasn't sure she was up for it. She was completely exhausted. She finished removing her pants and underwear as she headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She pulled her hair up in a French twist, secured it with a clip and stepped under the hot warm spray hoping that it would help rid her of the chill she felt right down to her bones.

Telling the Owens' that Jeremy was dead was incredibly difficult. They were both utterly devastated – just like any other parent would be but they had the added guilt knowing that their last moments with their only child were filled with contempt and denial. It was a draining experience.

She stepped out of the shower feeling a little bit warmer, toweled off and threw on a pair of trainers and a t-shirt before heading into the kitchen. She filled the tea kettle with water and placed it on the stove. She opened the cupboards, gathering items to make tea and began to formulate her thoughts on how to talk to Martin. She wanted him to understand that just because she didn't want marriage and kids it didn't mean that she didn't want a future with him.

There was a knock on the door and she walked slowly to go answer it, mentally psyching herself up as her stomach flip-flopped nervously. She turned the knob, pulled the door open and said with a smile, "Hi."

"Hey." Martin gave her a small smile.

"Come in." She stepped back allowing Martin to enter. He walked past her and into the living room when the kettle whistled.

"I'm making tea, would you like a cup?" Sam asked and Martin nodded his head.

They two of them headed to the kitchen and Martin leaned against the counter opposite Sam. Despite her air of casualness her hands were shaking as she grabbed another mug from the cupboard. She dropped a teabag into each of their cups, turned to look at Martin and asked, "So, Ken, do you want honey or sugar?"

"Ha. Ha. I'll take honey." Martin replied smiling.

"So, you're not fond of the doll jokes." Sam pulled out the plastic bear with the yellow cap hat. "I think it's kind of flattering."

"Of course you do. You get to be Barbie. She's an icon. I'm the anatomically incorrect boyfriend with plastic hair."

Sam gave a light laugh and finished making their tea, handed a cup to Martin and said, "So, shall we go to the living room?"

Martin stood up and followed Sam out. As they walked Martin gently asked, "How did it go with Jeremy's parents?"

"About as well as could be expected, they feel incredibly guilty and sad." Sam softly replied before asking, "How did it go at the Lounge?"

They both took a seat on the sofa as Martin replied, "Good. Paul and Mike are going to go see Adam tomorrow and tell him about Jeremy. They seem genuinely worried about him and want to become his support system."

"That's good." Sam said as she gripped her mug with both hands without taking a drink.

Martin lifted up his steaming mug and took a small sip as the two of them sat together in silence for a few moments. Sam saw him stick his tongue out and she knew he was concentrating on what he wanted to say. At last he softly asked, "Sam, what do you want?"

She considered his question and rather than over explain she opted for a simple, honest answer, "I want a relationship with you."

Martin looked at her and gave her a sad smile before he turned his focus down into his tea. "I mean….um, where do you see yourself in five years?"

"You sound like my high school guidance counselor." Martin set his jaw and looked up. Sam let out an exasperated sigh. She was in no mood for his evasive tactics so she said, "Martin, please stop posing these vague questions and just say what you want to say. We both know why we are sitting here."

Martin nodded slowly. "You're right, I'm sorry. I guess I just don't know how to talk about this."

Sam fiddled with the handle on her mug and gently said, "You know how I feel. Why don't you tell me what you want?"

Martin took a deep breath and began, "Whenever I imagined how my life would be in the future it was always the same: I was a father and a husband. I can't help it Sam, I want to get married and have kids. Get a dog. I want that damn white picket fence."

Sam was surprised by the determination in Martin's statement. She knew in her gut that when she told him how she felt it could very well ruin any chance she had with him. But she also knew she needed to tell him the truth, so she softly replied, "Martin, I just can't see myself living that kind of life."

"And I can't see myself not," Martin whispered. He stared into his cup and asked, "So where does that leave us?"

"Is that what you think it would have to be, an ultimatum?"

"No, that's just it. I know I don't want to have to force you to see it my way if it isn't the life you want but what is the point of us starting up again if we both want different things for the future. It isn't fair to either one of us." Martin put his cup down on the table and said, "I just can't afford to lose any more time hoping that one day you'll change your mind."

"So being with me is a waste of time?" Sam knew that wasn't what he meant but her sense of hurt and anger were rapidly taking over.

"No, never, but after everything that has happened in the last year I realize how important having family is and that tomorrow isn't guaranteed."

"So, your definition of family is a wife and two kids? Not all families are like that, Martin. What about those men from Rick's, Mike and Paul? Don't you consider them a family?"

"You're right, not all families are the same or even traditional. But it helps if both sides agree on what makes their family enough." Martin paused and licked his lips. "I know I am not going to change my mind and decide that I don't want kids. Do you know if you are going to change yours?"

"No." Sam replied as Martin turned and looked at her with sad eyes. Sam's throat tightened. "So that's it? There's no chance for us?"

Martin's looked at her with infinite sadness. He gently brushed an errant hair from her face as he leaned in and kissed her. Sam felt overwhelmed with his lips on hers. She moved his hands to hold his face as the kiss deepened. It was as if Martin put everything he had in his heart into that kiss and she never wanted it to end.

When he finally broke the kiss, he rested his forehead on hers and gently whispered, "I'm so sorry, Sam."

Sam looked at him in disbelief as Martin stood up and walked out of her apartment.

End Book III

To be continued in Book IV


End file.
